Legislators, business officials talk Nevada’s economy at town hall

Associated Press

Monday, April 18, 2011 | 8:16 p.m.

A town hall meeting billed Monday as a discussion of "the recession, revenues and Nevada's economy" was a predictable back and forth discussion on responsible spending vs. individual accountability.

Moderated by Assemblyman Pat Hickey, R-Reno, the gathering was also advertised as an invitation to lawmakers, businesses and their respective representatives to "lay your cards on the table."

Speakers such as contractor Neil Medina and Assemblyman Crescent Hardy, R-Mesquite, likened Nevada's budget quandary to that of an individual business. Medina told the panel and audience that he had to slash 70 percent of his staff and cut health insurance for his remaining three employees to stay afloat.

"We don't spend money we don't have," he said.

Hardy emphasized a self-sufficiency doctrine, saying today's legislators bring a "woe is me" attitude to both houses, when the key is to expect nothing from the government.

Hardy used his home-schooled children as an example, and cited a divide between what he sees as dependent city dwellers and do-it-yourselfers.

"I don't need a teacher to teach my children. My wife has done a wonderful job of that," he said, adding that his children have earned their education and will not be a tax burden in the future.

Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas, told the crowd, "We have a spending problem," and slammed Democratic leadership in the Senate and Assembly for failing to provide a tax plan. Roberson also said the Democrats were trying to "demonize the Republicans for not caring about children or the needy or K-12 or higher education."

"You are not going to get a tax increase through this Senate," he told Democrats. "You're simply not going to do it."

Mary Lau, president of the Nevada Association of Retailers, said legislators raised taxes in 2003, 2005 and 2009 and have nothing to show for it.

Nevadans, she said, "understand the relationship between increases in taxes and increases in unemployment."

But critics of Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval's promise not to raise taxes or fees countered that the strategy will cost more in the long run.

Elliott Parker, an economist at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the state would have "the most diversified economy in the country" if the tax structure were on the right track and tax cuts were the key to economic growth.

Instead, Parker said the state is in a downward spiral that tax cuts will only deepen under current economic conditions.

Jim Pfrommer, president of the Education Alliance, said the only way out of Nevada's economic mess is to invest in education.

Pfrommer said if panelists did not believe in the moral imperative of providing a quality education, they should at least be swayed by the financial arguments behind it.

The poorly educated, he said, have higher incarceration rates and higher medical costs, leaving the state with a choice to "pay now or pay later."

Danny Thompson of the Nevada AFL-CIO said the state has been shortsighted since the 1980s when it was the only state with legal gambling and decided to put its full support behind the risky tax base that gambling offered.

But with most states now allowing gambling, Nevada's tax system is "not going to work for you anymore," he said.

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said the problem runs even deeper. Smith said businesses have told her that the lack of educational investment is keeping them from considering settling in the Silver State.

Businesses, she said, are "concerned about investing in you when I don't see you investing in you."

Former Republican Sen. Randolph Townsend, now on the Nevada Gaming Commission, cautioned that when talking about tax breaks it may be better to think twice about the companies that jump at the bait.

Townsend said Nevada wants companies that will "pay their fair share of taxes and not use any tax money." Townsend said the goal should be to attract companies whose employees will "buy homes, buy cars, and churn the economy," instead of being on the lookout for the cheapest state on the block.