Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011 | 5:12 p.m.
Susan Martinovich, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation, might be the least-stressed administrator in the state.
She began her testimony on Tuesday gently reminding a joint meeting of Assembly and Senate transportation committees that the department's funding is separate from the budget problems other agencies are facing.
“We are a highway fund agency and just wanted to recognize that,” Martinovich said after introducing her senior staff. “We are constitutionally separated from the general fund so a lot of the issues regarding the balancing of the budget are separate.”
That means lawmakers, who are looking in all places to close the budget gap - school districts, counties, taxes and cuts - can’t tap into highway construction money to balance the budget, thanks to a provision in the Nevada Constitution.
The two-year budget for the department is $1.2 billion, Martinovich said. The highway fund, which includes state gas tax money, federal gas tax money and bond receipts, also funds the Department of Motor Vehicles.
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