Controller offers ‘fiscal snapshot’ of state government

CARSON CITY -- In case you didn't know, 23 percent of Nevada's public school students are English language learners and the typical Nevadan earns $37,089 a year.

These and a limited number of other facts about the Silver State can be found in state Controller Kim Wallin's new four-page circular, "A Report to Our Citizens."

Wallin announced Tuesday that she has prepared 15,000 copies of a report designed to give citizens a "fiscal snapshot" of state government.

In one section, it shows in a simple chart where state government money comes from and how it is spent.

The Association of Government Accountants paid for production of the circular. The organization has been campaigning for government accountants to take complex financial information and convert it into easy-to-understand circulars that answer the question "Are we better off today?"

"Government fiscal assessments generally read like telephone books, with more pages of footnotes than the average citizen knows what to do with," said Relmond Van Daniker, the organization's executive director.

Wallin expects the circulars, available at city halls, libraries, public meeting places and online, will be grabbed up and actually read by average Nevadans. Copies also are available at her Las Vegas office in the Sawyer Building, or by calling 486-3895.

Last year she produced 5,000 copies of a more complex citizens' assets financial report and 3,000 still are sitting unclaimed on her shelves.

"We tried to put in this report what concerns citizens. When you put in a lot of numbers and statistics...peoples' eyes glaze over," she said.