WEEKLY EDITORIAL RECAP

Wednesday

Budget crisis

A crisis is unfolding on Wall Street, in credit markets, in corporate board rooms and cubicles, in big business and small business, and in households where people are sacrificing to keep finances afloat.

By comparison, the state of Nevada and local governments -- struggling with budget shortfalls -- are dealing with inconvenience. Two bits of news from the past week confirmed this.

First, Shelley Blotter, Nevada's acting personnel director, confirmed that despite $1.2 billion in budget cuts, only nine of the state's more than 17,500 workers have been let go. She said a few of those nine already have found other jobs with the state, and the others are at the top of the rehire list.

In addition, the state gave its work force an across-the-board 4 percent pay increase this summer (many state workers also received a "step" pay raise of between 3 and 5 percent).

Could any company, anywhere, absorb a 20 percent reduction in gross revenue without shedding a significant number of employees or at least freezing labor costs? The state's unemployment rate, at a 15-year high of 7.1 percent, says no.

Meanwhile, down at Las Vegas City Hall, the folks on the 10th floor announced with revenues growing at just 2 percent, they can't afford the average 8 percent pay raises promised to city workers without accompanying layoffs. Their current contract promises every city worker a 3 percent cost-of-living raise, with most workers also receiving a 5 percent "step" raise for logging another year of service. The city wants to reopen contracts and shrink that "step" raise to 2.5 percent, cutting the total average raise to about 5.5 percent.

You read that right. The city's budget "crisis" requires the city's work force, which like the state has suffered almost no reductions, to live with average pay raises of 5.5 percent.

The punch line? In exchange for smaller raises, the city workers' union wants better job security -- for workers who are already virtually impossible to fire.

A government funding crisis? Nevada has nothing of the sort at this point.