Nevada state budget (2010-2011)

Note: This article was last updated in 2011. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances.

Nevada had a budget of more than $16 billion for the biennium ending in 2011, after closing an approximately $887 million budget gap. Revenue used to balance the budget included $197 million from state agency funds, $105 million in federal funds and $62 million in mining proceeds. New fees were also implemented, resulting in an estimated $50 million in revenue. New fees would be implemented on mining claims, applications for water rights, new gaming licenses, bank foreclosures, and parks. The state faced a $3 billion deficit for the next biennial budget. The administration of Governor Jim Gibbons reviewed state programs.

Nevada received approximately $160 million from the federal government under HR 1586, a $26 billion plan to give states money for Medicaid and education that the president signed into law on August 10, 2010.

Going into the fiscal year, Nevada had a total state debt of $15,334,815,843 when calculated by adding the total outstanding debt, pension and OPEB UAAL’s, unemployment trust funds and the 2010 budget gap as of July 2010.

2011 State spending & deficit in billions

Total spending	Human services	Education	Protection	Infrastructure	Government
$6.2	$1.8	$3.4	$0.5	$0.05	$0.33

2011 Local spending & deficit in billions

Total spending	Pension	Healthcare	Education	Welfare	Protection	Transport	Deficit
$22	$0.00	$1.10	$4.8	$1.7	$3.2	$2	$23.8

FY 2010-11

See also: Archived Nevada state budgets

The state’s FY 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) compiled by the state government can be found here.

Nevada lawmakers passed a $6.8 billion two-year budget in 2009, and at the beginning of FY 2011 faced a $3 billion shortfall. Senate Fiscal Analyst Mark Krmpotic said that the overall ending fund balance in the state treasury was about $79 million ahead of what it was projected to finish fiscal year 2011 — a total of $323 million. He said reversions of unspent money came in $36 million higher than expected, totaling $84 million.

Nevada accepted $83 million in education funds as part of the federal jobs bills approved by Congress in August 2010. The bill also included $79 million in matching Medicaid funding for Nevada, which lawmakers had included in the state's budget.

Budget background

See also: Nevada state budget and finances

Nevada’s Constitution requires the state to have a balanced budget and not deficit spend. Individual state agencies submit their budget requests along with past expenditures and revenue to the governor who proceeds to issue a budget recommendation for the upcoming fiscal year to the Nevada State Legislature. Both the State Assembly and the Senate are required to make any necessary changes or adjustments to the budget until the bill is passed in both houses.

Regular sessions of the legislature begin the first Monday in February of odd-numbered years. Nevada is one of only six states that have true biennial sessions. From 1961 through 1997, the length of legislative sessions in Nevada depended upon the time required to process proposed legislation, review the spending proposals of state agencies, and adopt a biennial state budget. Some sessions lasted as long as 169 days. At the 1998 general election, Nevada voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting future regular biennial sessions to 120 days. The amendment also required the governor to submit the executive budget to the legislature two weeks before the start of session. Bills that contain a tax or fee increase require a two-third majority vote (14 in the Senate and 28 in Assembly) to pass.

• The General Fund was a significant source of revenue for the state, accounting for 37 percent of total projected revenue. Federal funds accounted for almost one quarter, 21 percent, of the state’s projected revenues. Other revenue encompasses a variety of items from private gifts and donations to various fees, assessments, and taxes.

Accounting principles

The Nevada Legislative Auditor for the Legislative Counsel Bureau, Audit Division audits Nevada's state agencies and publishes audit reports online. Paul Townsend was the Legislative Auditor. The Legislative Auditor was a statutory officer appointed by the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau with the approval of the Legislative Commission for an indefinite term whose qualifications and duties were defined by law. The Legislative Auditor served as staff to the Nevada Legislature and its various committees and was the chief of the Audit Division.

Kim Wallin was elected Nevada's State Controller in November of 2006. The Nevada State Controller was one of the six constitutional officers of the state and was elected to a term of four years. The Controller was the chief fiscal officer charged with administering the state accounting system and the state's debt collection program under the Nevada Constitution Article 5, Section 19.

Credit Rating	Fitch	Moody's	S&P
Nevada	AA+	Aa2	AA+

See also

• Nevada state budget and finances