State spending rose last year, report says

An annual report found Nevada state government spending rose 4.5 percent and revenue dropped 2 percent during the fiscal year that ended June 30.

State spending rose to $7.5 billion, up from $7.2 billion in the previous 12-month budget cycle, according to the four-page Report to Our Citizens released Tuesday by state Controller Kim Wallin. State revenues dropped about $131 million during the July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008, fiscal year.

The controller’s office releases the report annually as snapshot of state revenue and spending.

Deputy Controller Mark Taylor said the numbers were not as dire as some might have expected because the economic slowdown was just beginning during the time studied.

“The recession was not as deep as now, and expenses were still strong, but revenues were starting to slow down,” he said. “It shows the beginning of what we are experiencing now.”

The report did not include most of nearly $1.5 billion in state spending cuts during the 2008 calendar year. About $300 million was cut during a special session just before the end of the fiscal year. Other cuts followed.

Taylor also noted the report included an increase in federal grants and revenue given to state government. Nearly $3 billion in federal funds were given to state programs during the fiscal year, an increase of $100 million from the previous fiscal year.

Federal grants and funds supplemented the state’s two-year general fund budget of $6.8 billion.

Wallin noted in the report that the federal debt has risen to $10 trillion, up $4 trillion over the past eight years.

The state’s share of that debt, if calculated on a per capita basis, would be $6.9 billion, or just about the total annual state revenue from all sources, the report said.

State population growth slowing Associated Press Nevada’s population grew by less than 1 percent during the fiscal year that ended June 30, state Demographer Jeff Hardcastle said Wednesday. Hardcastle said 20,396 people were added to the state population during the year, for an increase of 0.8 percent. That compares with increases of 3.6 percent in the 2006-07 fiscal year and 4.1 percent in 2005-06. His report follows a U.S. Census Bureau report stating Nevada is the eighth fastest-growing state in the nation. As of July 1, Nevada had 2.74 million residents, including nearly 2 million in the Las Vegas area and about 616,000 in the Reno-Sparks area. That’s 87 percent of the state population in the two urban centers.