Reno's Budget Vanishes

And Did It Ever Exist at All?

Friends, gather ‘round and let me tell you a tale as old as dust—one that ought to be printed on parchment and sealed with the stamp of every government that ever was. In all its wisdom, Reno has found itself staring down the gaping maw of a $24 million budget deficit.

You heard that right—twenty-four million dollars, gone missing like a fox in the henhouse.

Meanwhile, over in the City of Sparks, wouldn’t you know it, they’re short $12 million like some grand and mysterious epidemic of missing arithmetic.

Now, the city’s finance wizard, a certain Ms. Vicki Van Buren, has taken to explaining the matter in terms of “stagnant consolidated tax revenues” and “declining consumer confidence,” which is polite society’s way of saying folks just ain’t spending like they used to, and the government is feeling it. Some 80 percent of this pot of money comes from sales taxes, meaning if the good people of Reno decide to hold onto their hard-earned dollars instead of frittering them away, well, the city coffers start looking mighty lonesome.

But do not fret, dear reader, for our city leaders have devised a plan.

Departments got to pinch pennies by a meager two percent this year and five percent next year.

And should that not suffice, they’ve got a trusty bag of “one-time funds” worth $16.4 million to plug the holes. Even after all that hocus-pocus, there’s still a $3.7 million gap, which they hope to solve by keeping job vacancies empty—something of a government tradition.

The people in charge have assured us that police and fire services won’t get touched.

Instead, other city services will “inevitably” feel the squeeze—meaning, if you were hoping for timely snow plows or a pothole-free existence, you may wish to temper those expectations. The show ain’t over yet; another budget meeting is coming this May.

Here is the eternal question that has plagued citizens since the first tax collector set up his little box by the road: What exactly do they do with our tax money?