Includes “When the Nevada Legislature meets in the spring it’s going to have to sharpen a lot of pencils to figure out how to balance the coming biennial budget. Lawmakers must contend with growing public school enrollment, growing Medicaid enrollments, growing personnel costs and still relatively stagnant tax revenue. The Carson City newspaper recently calculated that even if the $1 billion in temporary tax hikes — scheduled to be sunset on June 30 — are extended once again, the revenue will fall $120 million short. But that’s not even the half of it, according to a recent report by a think tank called Truth in Accounting. You see, Nevada like most states manages to balance its current spending and current revenue by ignoring billions of dollars in obligations. Truth in Accounting says the biggest culprit is public employee pensions. …”
Read the full article on: The Ely Times (Nevada)