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No One Asked Me But… (April 13, 2011)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… We are half way through the 2011 Legislative session. At this point, there has been no serious business conducted. Don’t panic; that is the way it is every year. Nothing really matters until the budget fight begins.

This year’s budget fight could be a doozy. If the Governor’s budget of $5.8 million prevails, the social programs of the state including the schools will be cut to a level where they will function only by the grace of the community and the professionals who run these organizations.

The battle comes down to the tax the Democrats do not want to see cut and the programs the Republicans want to attack. The Governor’s budget cuts $781 million in taxes. The Republicans contend that to extend the taxes would be a tax increase even though the taxes have been collected for the last two years.

There is the contention that they were passed in violation of the State’s Constitutional requirement of a two-thirds vote of the legislature in 2009. If you remember, the State Supreme Court ruled the taxes could be imposed even though a two-thirds vote did not confirm them. A number of Supreme Court Justices were not re-elected because of the ruling. Republican legislators have not forgotten what happened to those judges and are reluctant to stop these taxes from sunsetting at the end of this year.

Republican may agree to not cut the budget if the Democrats will agree to five proposals:

1. Repeal laws that mandate collective bargaining by local governments and school districts. Not wanting a Wisconsin type problem, Governor Sandoval opposes this provision and Peter Goiceochea, the Minority Whip, says he could do without it.

2. Privatize the Public Employment Benefits Program; a step Republicans believe will reduce costs by one third for the state. If the teacher union in Clark County were to bid out its health care, it could save the state $40 to $80 million. The teachers would then buy health insurance from their compensation.

3. End the requirement for prevailing wage on public work projects saving the state about $100 million dollars a year on state projects.

4. Change the law on class action lawsuits and what lawyers can be paid on construction defects cases.

5. Give parents vouchers to send children to private schools, and require more empowerment schools.

These are the taxes the Democrats do not want cut:

1. The modified business or payroll tax that was increased to 1.17 percent of each worker’s wage. This was an increase from .63 percent prior to 2009. The first $250,000 in the company’s payroll is now taxed at .5 percent. The rest of the payroll is taxed at the higher rate. This tax brought in $346 million over the last two years.

2. The present state sales tax rate is 6.85 percent with an additional 1.25 percent sales tax unique to Clark County. The Republicans want to cut the rate back to 6.5 percent statewide and 7.75 in Las Vegas. This tax brought in $280 million over two years. All the money went to support public schools.

3. In 2010 there was a ten percent average increase in car registration fees which raised an additional $94 million over the last two years. The Republicans want to cut these fees back to the 2009 levels.

4. The annual business license fee was raised to $200 a year in 2010. The Republicans would cut this fee to $100 losing the $61 million raised over the last two years. If my rapid mathematical mind is right, this is a total of $781 million dollars in tax cuts. This might suggest the issue is not “no new taxes” but a desire to cut taxes back to the 2009 level.

It would seem reasonable to expect that right thinking individuals, who are willing to put aside political issues, could come to a decision that would keep the State of Nevada from falling into the void it now faces.

No one me asked be but… How do these cuts affect our local schools? Mack Lyon Middle School will lose five teachers. Perkins Elementary will lose two teachers. Grant Bowler Elementary school will lose seven teachers. Moapa Valley High School will lose a Dean, two counselors, one math teacher, one social studies teacher, one fine arts positions, one performing arts teacher, a foods teacher, a clerk II position, a campus monitor position and a graphic arts position. This means there will be no Culinary Arts and no Vocal Music program at MVHS.

The materials budget will be cut by $60,000 and the school will save $20,000 by not purchasing any textbooks. The local high school administration will be cut by 33 percent, the teaching staff by 22 percent, the support staff by 21 percent.

If the cuts the school board has instituted go into effect, the teachers will give up any pay that would be theirs for increasing their education, any salary increase for experience; teachers will pay 1.2 percent more in retirement, and will be taking a 7.8 percent decrease in their current salary. For this decrease in wages and benefits, our local high school teachers have agreed to teach seven of eight class periods instead of six of eight. This means they have agreed to teach more students, more hours for at least a ten percent cut in their take home pay.

No one asked me but… The average teacher salary in Clark County is $44,426. Under the conditions listed above, the average teacher will give up over $5000 dollars a year to keep their job. By doing this, they will see only 2500 of their colleagues lose their jobs.

Interestingly enough, the district is still sending recruiters across the United States looking for teachers. If we are laying off teacher why is this expense necessary? For every $45,000 we spend recruiting, we could keep a teacher on the job. Do our local universities not turn out teachers in all academic areas and should they not have first shot at any jobs needed? We have a corps of substitute teachers, many of whom hoped to get a permanent job. If for some unexplainable reason a vacancy existed, are none of these people qualified to fill it?

Thought of the week… I have never been in a situation where having more money made it worse.

Clinton Jones

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