Small group possesses big voice

CARSON CITY -- A nearly anonymous group of two bankers, two CPAs and a pen company owner make up the Economic Forum, a group which by law since 1995 has determined how much tax revenue will be available for state government to spend.

The law requires Gibbons and the Legislature to use the forum's projections in the two-year budget that lawmakers are scheduled to approve before they end the 2007 session on June 4.

For their efforts in estimating revenue, forum members receive the wage of $80 per meeting.

The members, all who serve through February 2008, are the following:

• Chairwoman Deborah Pierce, a certified public accountant and chief financial officer of Hooters. She was appointed by former Gov. Kenny Guinn.

• Vice Chairman Bill Martin, president of Nevada State Bank. He was appointed by Guinn.

• Michael Small, a certified public accountant who is vice president of tax and treasury activities for the Venetian. He was appointed by former Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson.

• Paul Cary Fisher Jr., owner of Fisher Space Pen Co. He was appointed by Guinn.

• Leo Seevers, a retired Reno banker. He was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno. He is the father of Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert, R-Reno. Seevers began service on the Economic Forum eight years before Gansert was elected to office.

The Economic Forum was created because legislators could not say no to increased spending. Legislators approved record spending at the 1991 session, only to find the dollars came in far short because of a recession in 1992.

Before that recession, the joke was that the Legislature engaged in "Field of Dreams" budgeting.

Lawmakers in 1993 decided they needed a more objective way of projecting state tax revenue. The Economic Forum was the solution.

Members make a preliminary forecast of tax revenue by Dec. 1 of even-numbered years. The figures must be used by governor in creating the proposed budget he submits to the Legislature seven weeks later.

Then the forum makes its final forecast by May 1 of odd-numbered years. That one is binding on the Legislature and governor in passing the budget.

According to a Legislative Counsel Bureau analysis, the forum's May 1 projections have underestimated revenue receipts by an average of 2.6 percent, $110 million for each two-year budget period.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said forum numbers are off because tax revenues must be estimated two years in advance. The Legislature meets every other year.

"They are not perfect, but who is?" she said. "Things change when you meet every two years."