A foolish scheme

Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008 | 2:01 a.m.

After his bungling and secretive handling of the state’s budget crisis, Gov. Jim Gibbons is toying with a not-so-novel idea to “solve” the problem: raid Clark County’s coffers.

Gibbons has taken a cue from Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who has long advocated reassessing the way tax money is distributed between state and local governments, with the assumption being the state would receive a greater share.

The governor’s trial balloon could set the stage for a major fight in next year’s legislative session. It is, however, nothing more than a crass and cynical political gambit. If this push becomes reality, it would be at the expense of Clark County, which would suffer because of less money in already tight budgets for police, firefighters, roads and social services.

Raggio, who holds a tight rein on the state budget, would gain the ability to funnel more money to projects in Northern Nevada. Gibbons would get a fiscal Band-Aid to patch the state budget, and that would help him protect his foolish no-new-taxes pledge.

The question of how tax dollars are distributed should not be addressed until the state first grapples with a basic reality: Nevada’s needs have far outstripped the revenue the state’s tax system produces. As a result, education, health care, social services and road construction are all terribly underfunded.

Taking money from Clark County to help the state would only further yoke the county with the state’s problems and tax a budget already stressed by the region’s tremendous growth. And it would come after the county has, in recent years, taken on an increasing share of state responsibilities, including providing more social services.

Gibbons and other state officials, however, don’t see that. They see Clark County, the state’s economic engine, as an ATM to tap at their whim.

Gibbons and the Legislature should be making long-term fixes to the tax system and the state budget, not looking to schemes that will leave Nevada worse off than it already is.