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Updated: Apr. 10, 2012 | 10:14 a.m.
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.
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If you don't have the money you can't spend it! It's dangerous and irresponsible to finance your excess expenses on your credit cards, it can lead to BANKRUPTCY. Chancellor Klaich should already know this.
I believe some salary/benefits really need to go under the microscope. You used to have to put forth the effort to get a college education to earn those six figure salaries. Now it seems as long as you work in some forms of public service those salaries are attainable. If not salaries then where? Can you get a sharp pencil in the procurement dept to lower the cost of supplies? Maybe use non-union construction companies instead of the over inflated PLA/union agreement contractors. Why do state/county/city workers need to be unionized anyway, I thought unions protect workers against unsavory employers?
Unfortunately our legislature doesn't seem to be very good at planning for the worst, sticking your head in the sand will not make it go away.
DNC:
If you want to know the REAL reason oil prices increased (and its pretty obvious that you don't) check out what the hedge funds bought during year when oil prices ran up to $147.00 a barrel.
Look at Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sacks, Merryl Lynch, and the others. In fact, a very interesting story published in the Wall Street Journal about a trader (how appropriate) from Lehman Bros. manipulating the oil futures market before he was fired in "disgrace" after he stole lost more than 1 billion dollars for the firm.
As I said, ONLY a rabid right wing dog, with no ability to see what is right in front of their faces, would believe that the price of oil wasn't being manipulated; but here you are.