RENO " Spending cuts alone won't be enough to deal with Nevada's financial crisis, and the state must raise taxes to help meet its pressing needs, state lawmakers were told Saturday.
Separate hearings drew about 200 people in Reno and 100 in Las Vegas, including state workers, teachers and advocates for the poor, elderly and disabled.
State Sen. Bernice Mathews, D-Reno, co-chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee, said she was "really surprised" that about half of the more than 50 speakers in Reno called for tax increases.
But Mathews, whose party controls both houses of the Legislature, said it was premature to say whether she and her colleagues would support tax increases. Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons generally opposes tax increases.
"Everything is on the table at this point and we haven't gotten that far," she said. "My mother always said you don't rule anything out until you've had a chance to study it."
Some speakers at the hearings became overcome by emotion as they discussed the impact Gibbons' proposed cuts would have.
Grady Tarbutton, director of Washoe County Senior Services, had to pause to compose himself as he discussed the effect of cuts on providers critical to keeping seniors at home.
"They can't survive with the cuts," he said, noting he was speaking as a citizen.
An emotional Anne Peer, a teacher at Lena Juniper Elementary School in Sparks, said she spends her own money on clothes and supplies for her 112 students. She teaches English as a second language.
Gibbons is seeking a 6 percent pay cut for teachers and a 15 percent decrease in spending on K-12 education compared to current levels.
"To be treated with this disrespect is hard. It makes me sad and angry," Peer said. "How many more students am I going to have to teach? We're already working as hard as we can."
Other speakers cited Nevada's national ranking at or near the bottom in various categories, including per-pupil expenditures, high-school dropout rates, senior suicide and child support collections.
They urged lawmakers to broaden the state's tax base and make everyone share in the burden. They said the state could bridge the budget gap by creating a lottery, taking full advantage of federal stimulus funds and raising business and mining taxes.
"All of us have to step up and pay taxes and make us proud of Nevada," said Mary Goo, a school nurse in Washoe County. "With no new taxes, you paint yourselves in a corner. You have to be flexible and look at the needs of the state."
Ty Weinert, a 34-year-old small business owner in Clark County, blamed recent cuts in Medicaid spending for her mother's death from multiple schlerosis last fall.
"I am willing to pay income taxes," she said, as the crowd applauded. "I came from a state where we paid taxes. You get what you pay for."
Mark Schaffer, 48, a database administrator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, agreed.
"We shouldn't be afraid to spend more," he said. "And we shouldn't be afraid to look at taxing those who can afford to pay more to provide those needed services for the state of Nevada."
But Myron Hughes, a 73-year-old retired firefighter from Las Vegas, took the opposite view.
"You don't raise taxes on the people, you cut expenses when you don't have the money," he said. "The best thing to do is get the government off the backs of the people."
Juanita Cox of Reno agreed, saying lawmakers should cut funding for nonessential services and rely more on volunteers to fill the gap in social services programs.
"Taxing businesses will make large businesses leave the state," she said. "It'll leave more people homeless who need services."
Other speakers urged lawmakers to target the hundreds of government employees who earn more than $100,000 a year and get perks such as cell phones and vehicles.
But Jan Gilbert of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada said the Silver State ranks dead last when it comes to state government spending as a share of total state income.
"Those who say we should tighten our belts are delusional. We're already at the bottom," she said. "We want it (tax structure) to be fair and equitable, but we want it to be sufficient."