Three named to tax revenue panel

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Jim Gibbons on Monday named three new appointees to the Economic Forum, the panel responsible for forecasting tax revenues for every state budget and legislative session.

Gibbons named John Restrepo, the principal for Restrepo Consulting Group LLC, an economic research firm; Linda Rosenthal, director of treasury operations for International Game Technology; and Cathy Santoro, senior vice president and treasurer of MGM Mirage; to the panel, which meets only part-time.

Restrepo and Santoro are Las Vegas residents. Rosenthal is from Reno.

The new appointees replace outgoing members Paul Cary Fisher, Bill Martin and Deborah Pierce whose terms expired on Jan. 31.

The Economic Forum consists of five appointed members who cannot be employees of state government, including publicly supported institutions of higher education.

Three members are appointed by the governor, one member is appointed by the Senate majority leader and one member is appointed by the speaker of the Assembly to serve two-year terms.

The panel determines the tax revenue projections that must be used by the governor and the Legislature in determining how much money there will be available to spend in each upcoming budget.

The revenue forecasts for the coming two-year budget could prove challenging for the panel given the current slowdown in the national and Nevada economies.

The projections made by the panel for the current two-year budget have proved to be far more optimistic than the actual tax collections, which resulted in a decision by Gibbons to reduce state spending to maintain a balanced budget.

Gibbons spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said the current budget situation was not a factor in selecting new members of the panel. "I think he was just interested in bringing in some new ideas," she said.

Restrepo is the 2008 president of the National Association of Industrial and Office Professionals. He holds a bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, and a master of arts in economics and Latin American studies from the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.

Rosenthal joined IGT 11 years ago as a senior tax analyst. She was promoted to corporate tax supervisor in 1999, corporate tax manager in 2000, manager of treasury operations in 2001 and took over her current position in 2005. She earned a bachelor of science degree in commerce from Santa Clara University and is a certified public accountant and a certified treasury professional.

Santoro is responsible for managing the company's overall treasury operations and is involved in all capital market processes and related financing activities and transactions. Before joining MGM Mirage in August 2004 as the assistant treasurer, Santoro was a vice president for Wells Fargo Bank in the gaming division. She began her career with Deloitte & Touche and is a certified public accountant licensed in Nevada. Santoro earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Boston College and both a master of arts in economics and master of business administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.