Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

SUN EDITORIAL:

More people hurting

Governor, lawmakers should be honest about consequences of budget cuts

The question in the current round of budget cutting in Carson City isn’t if government is going to be smaller, it’s how much smaller. Despite what some people claim, Nevada’s government is not flush with money, much less services. As we have noted, by any reasonable measure Nevada has one of the smallest, if not the smallest, government in the nation.

The cuts lawmakers are making are significant. Last year, as the Legislature was trimming the budget, lawmakers considered the number of diapers that were being distributed to needy seniors and cut back. The absurdity of state lawmakers debating adult diapers is astounding, but that’s the level of budget cutting in Nevada.

This year, lawmakers are debating whether to cut a Medicaid program the state offers that provides free eyeglasses to nearly 8,000 seniors. The program is considered “optional” by the federal government, so Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed cutting it. Under Sandoval’s proposal, there will be reductions in other services as well.

Cuts like this have raised a philosophical question about government and what it should be doing. Some lawmakers and critics of government don’t want the state in the business of providing services beyond only the most basic level. Behind that philosophy is a disdain for government and taxes, and cutting services means not only less government, but the state also won’t have to raise taxes to provide services.

Sandoval, for example, has gone to great pains in his budget to avoid violating his foolish “no new taxes” pledge, but the fact remains that there is a desperate need for services in the state.

As David McGrath Schwartz reported in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun, some Republicans and libertarians are arguing that others — such as nonprofit groups — will pick up where the state cuts. Phil Johncock, interim executive director of the Alliance for Nevada Nonprofits, said groups “can step up, pick up the slack.”

“But there’s a certain point where you can’t,” Johncock said. “You can only stretch so far.”

Indeed. It’s not as if those groups are flush with cash or that supporters are able to flood them with donations. The same economic crisis that hit the states, causing the budget crises, hit charities. The government relies on nonprofit groups to provide services in areas it doesn’t and has been a key financial supporter.

“The safety net exists, but it exists largely because the state created it,” said Dana Serrata, executive director of the nonprofit Helping Hands of Vegas Valley, which helps seniors. “When the state was prosperous, it gave grants.”

As Schwartz reported, in 2008, the last year data were available, about 60 percent of the funding for Nevada nonprofit organizations came from federal, state or local grants. For all those who despise taxes and want government to turn over its duties to nonprofit groups, this fact shouldn’t be lost: Taxes help fund nonprofit services.

Nonprofit groups in Nevada and across the nation have been affected. The recession resulted in an increased demand for services. In the meantime, budgets decreased as tax revenue fell. As government cuts back, it will inevitably mean seniors, children and others in need will find it more difficult to find help.

As the governor and the Legislature cut the budget, they should be honest about the consequences of their actions: fewer services in a state that doesn’t have enough. And that will leave more people hurting.

That can’t be OK, can it?

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