As the 2025 legislative session nears the final 30 days, here’s a reminder that Joe Lombardo’s fiscal irresponsibility and incompetence are costing Nevadans.
Less than two weeks after touting fiscal responsibility during his State of the State address, Lombardo fired the state’s budget director after Lombardo presented an unconstitutionally unbalanced budget that would have created a $335 million deficit. Days later, Lombardo’s new state financial system – the one he was “proud to announce that the first phase of his new $160 million financial system went live on January 2 and is now paying Nevada’s bills” — failed to pay out critical state expenses, including child support and health savings account payments.
Earlier this month, Lombardo’s Department of Corrections announced that it has a more than $50 million hole in its budget. The Department of Corrections Director, who was appointed by Lombardo, said that the governor has known about the issues creating the budget shortfall since the beginning of 2023, which Lombardo failed to inform the Legislature of or address in his proposed budget.
This all adds to Lombardo’s growing history of fiscal irresponsibility and incompetence. In 2023, before vetoing legislation that would have lowered the cost of housing, he requested $25 million of taxpayer money to “go furniture shopping” for his office.
Nevada State Democratic Party Executive Director Hilary Barrett:
“Joe Lombardo’s lack of institutional control and handling of our state’s budget and finance systems has been atrocious. It is clear that the responsibility of leadership is too big for him. In the last three months, Lombardo has proposed a budget with an unconstitutional, nine-figure deficit, fired his budget director, rolled out a failing and costly new financial system that couldn’t pay out critical state expenses, and his Department of Corrections has announced another multi-million dollar budget deficit. At a time when unemployment, food insecurity, and housing costs are on the rise and Trump’s tariffs are raising costs even higher, Nevadans need a leader who will stand up for working-class families — that leader is not Joe Lombardo.”
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