Credit card

Gov. Jim Gibbons said Tuesday that he is looking at laying off state employees, cutting their salaries and adding unpaid furlough days to deal with a more than $50 million drop in tax revenue below anticipated levels.

That announcement was met with cries of "unfairness" by the chancellor of the state's colleges and the head of a state employee union.

Dennis Mallory, chief of staff of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4041, which represents about 4,000 state employees, questioned the fairness of having state employees suffer from additional cuts after their pay was "cut 4.6 percent" through unpaid furloughs by the 2009 Legislature.

And in a letter to the governor, higher education Chancellor Daniel Klaich said cutting higher education spending now would be "virtually impossible" because contracts have been executed for the school year, registration for the next semester is nearly completed and schedules have been published.

Instead, Mr. Klaich urged Gov. Gibbons to avoid cuts by using the $160 million line of credit approved by the 2009 Legislature to "balance the budget."

But during a news conference, Gov. Gibbons said he opposes tapping into the credit line, stating it's "unacceptable" to create debt in order to cover state operating expenses.

He is absolutely correct -- and he shows unusual political backbone, in this day and age -- to avoid incurring debt to cover operating expenses, especially at a time when state population growth has slowed and many prices are dropping in the private sector.

The problem was caused by past legislatures jacking up state payrolls and budgets at rates far exceeding population growth and inflation combined. The solution is indeed for the state to now live within its means -- not to borrow (assuming that would even be constitutional, which is a good question) and add debt-service costs, thus setting the stage for a worse budget meltdown in years to come.

Just ask the folks in Sacramento.