Nevada gov tells university system to redraft budget

CARSON CITY - Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn told the head of the state's university and community colleges on Thursday there's no way he'll accept a $1.1 billion budget plan from the system.

Guinn said a tentative proposal for the coming two-year-budget cycle, starting in July 2001, is 28 percent higher than the current budget, and "this is unacceptable."

The first-term GOP governor noted he told all state agencies last January to submit flat spending plans - with no increases over current levels - and wait until later to consider requests for extra funding.

Guinn also said that two years ago he trimmed nearly $1 billion from all government agency requests before sending a spending plan to the 1999 Legislature.

"I do not intend to this year allow a similar waste of time and effort on the part of the agencies themselves, my office or the Budget Division," Guinn said in a letter to Jane Nichols, interim chancellor for the University and Community College System of Nevada.

"At a later date, the governor's office, with input from the Legislature, will consider priority requests for enhancements from available funds from existing sources of revenue," Guinn added.

The governor said he wanted to "strongly encourage" university regents to turn in a flat budget "as I will not accept nor will I include the UCCSN proposals in my executive budget if substantial revisions... are not made."

Guinn said the common goal should be "a sensible budget," adding, "We cannot achieve this goal if each agency pursues its own agenda with complete disregard for the needs of other state agencies, the public and the taxpayers."

Nichols said there was no intent on the part of the system to suggest the $1.1 billion was the recommended budget amount. She said no decision will be made until a June regents' meeting in Elko.

Jill Talbot-Derby, chairwoman of UCCSN's regents, said the system is "more than happy to comply" with Guinn's demand, adding, "We're on the same page with the governor."

Talbot-Derby said the initial amount "was very preliminary" and reflected what heads of the system's various schools thought they'd need - not what regents may ultimately approve.

Nichols and Talbot-Derby declined to comment when asked whether Guinn may have jumped to conclusions, resulting in the harsh tone of his letter.

The spending plan, discussed last week at a regents' meeting in Las Vegas, is nearly $200 million higher than the current budget.

At the same meeting, Nichols was named interim chancellor while a search continues for a permanent chancellor. She's replacing Tom Anderes, who served as the interim chancellor for less than a year before deciding to leave to become a vice chancellor overseeing finances for the Oregon State University system.

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