Conservative institute releases alternative state budget that’s smaller

CARSON CITY — On the eve of the state Economic Forum setting state spending limits, a conservative think tank has come up with its own budget plan — one that is $1.1 billion smaller than the much decried $6.17 billion two-year general fund budget proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons in January.

The alternative budget was prepared by Nevada Policy Research Institute analyst Geoffrey Lawrence who did a line-by-line analysis of Gibbons’ budget — one that Democrats consider might be $3 billion short of what would be needed to keep services at the levels set up by the Legislature in 2007.

“Legislators have complained for months about Nevada’s budget situation without putting a substantive proposal on the table,” Lawrence said. “But by setting priorities and eliminating programs created after the 2003 tax hikes, which produced record revenues, this budget spends $1 bill less than the governors’s.”

One program Lawrence eliminated in his budget is the $52.8 million full-day kindergarten program in some schools.

The Economic Forum is expected Friday to determine that state government will have far less available to spend in tax revenues over the next two years. The forum in December predicted tax revenues over that period would be $5.65 billion. Its Friday forecast is expected to be $500 million less, producing revenue in line with Lawrence's budget.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.