Potential state budget cuts detailed
The Nevada legislature’s Interim Finance Committee on Friday will hear ideas to save as much as $65 million in the upcoming 2011-13 biennium.
The proposals are contained in a 109-page document from the Legislative Committee for the Fundamental Review of the Base Budgets for State Agencies. (click here for the document, savings ideas start on page 70 of the PDF)
The extensive document contains proposals for everything from charging counties fees to support state-run social services or pushing the responsibilities to local governments altogether.
Some of the services mentioned include pushing pre-sentence investigations from the Division of Parole and Probation to the local courts, transferring Elder Protection Services from the Aging and Disability Services Division to counties or charging the counties for the service, reducing the Senior Property Tax Assistance program to cover only senior citizens with income below the federal poverty level and eliminating the Trust Fund for Public Health and redirecting tobacco settlement funds to offset other cuts in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Other proposals include using student fee and tuition money, as opposed to state general funds, to support grants to help low income students attend college or trade schools and cutting support for academic research done through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.
Former state Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Las Vegas, and state fiscal research analyst Mark Krmpotic will present the findings during the Interim Finance Committee meeting that starts at 9 a.m. Friday in the legislative building in Carson City.
