Sandoval unveils budget

Tomorrow our new Governor will deliver his first State of the State address to Nevada. Governor Sandoval's campaign promise of "no new taxes" could be seriously put to the test. Although nothing has been released by Sandoval, there has been a lot of speculation on what the content of his address will contain. We know a majority of his 45 minute speech will focus on the budget. Sandoval has repeatedly claimed that he will work within the $5.3 billion in revenue projected by the state Economic Forum even if it is less than last years budget expenditure and nearly $3 billion less than the state agencies are requesting.
Health and education departments fear that they will have their budgets slashed, as all departments should. Sandoval has proposed a 5% cut across the board from all state agencies and a state employee pay cut to help keep spending within the projected revenues. Some speculate that Sandoval might push off spending onto local governments adding even more strain to their budgets. Sandoval even visited with the Senate Majority Leader to seek some federal assistance for Medicaid, but the Senator from Nevada is reported to have told him not to expect any assistance and to revise his stance on new taxes. This from the Senator, that just a couple of months prior was campaigning on how much he has done for Nevada and Nevada families.
One thing is for certain, whatever Governor Sandoval does will impact all of us and most likely will cause some pain and hardship. What the government must do is live within its means; we can't continue to spend money we don't have. Nevada families have been facing those hardships for the last couple of years and with the nation's highest unemployment and foreclosure rates the future doesn't look bright.

Please see my examiner article for links and sources.