Governor Budget Cuts

Governor announces new budget plan; higher education to bear brunt

CARSON CITY, NEV.--Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons announced new budget savings plans for the state on Friday. As part of his revised plan for budget cuts, the Nevada System of Higher Education would bear the brunt of the cuts.

"If they're so smart, they'll find ways to raise new revenues," Gibbons said in a press conference.

The state is facing a budget crunch as a result of declining sales tax revenues. The governor is expected to make final budget decisions by January.

Chancellor Jim Rogers, the head of the higher education system, called Gibbons' new plan outrageous.

"This man is (expletive deleted) insane," Rogers exclaimed in his own press confernece held one hour after the governor's.

The governor's new plan is to slash higher education budgets by 50-70 percent in an effort to avoid cutting other state agency budgets.

"If I have to choose between higher education and other social welfare programs, I choose the other programs. Higher education has a very limited impact on our state's economy as it is," Gibbons said.

Milton Glick, University of Nevada, Reno, President said budget cuts at the governor's revised levels would result in the campus having to close its doors.

"At the low end, we'd have to significantly scale back our core programs just to stay open. But at a 70 percent cut, we'd be forced out of existence," Glick said in a statement.

State legislative leaders expressed their deep concerns as well. State Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley called this plan "simply criminal."

State Senate majority leader Willaim Raggio, normally a strong supporter of the governor, said Gibbons has finally gone over the edge.

"We always suspected there was something not quite right about Jim, but now we have the proof," Raggio said in a phone conference. "If he continues forward with this plan, he will not serve out a full term as governor. I can guarantee that."