Washington, D.C. – Today, in Las Vegas, the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) released a new report that chronicles some of the most egregious cases of wasteful spending by Nevada’s state, county and local governments. 

The report, titled the Nevada Piglet Book 2008, was authored by Louis Dezseran, an NPRI researcher, and Steven Miller, the Institute’s vice president for policy.  The national taxpayer watchdog organization Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) partnered with NPRI on the production of the report, which can be downloaded at www.npri.org and www.cagw.org.

“In this time of economic challenge, Nevadans deserve to know whether government is managing our public financing responsibly,” said Andy Matthews, NPRI’s vice president for communications.  “This report’s findings make it clear that in many cases, our elected officials have neglected their duty to steward our tax dollars in a responsible way.”

Examples of questionable financial practices exposed in the report include:  the underreporting of revenues; excessive overtime pay to public employees; lavish retirement benefits; educational programs that have cost far more than originally budgeted; the circumvention of contract-bidding rules; exorbitant amounts spent by governments to lobby other levels of government; and costly expenditures on items such as cat carriers and leashes, sand-filled stress balls, fuzzy frogs, 100-pound pigs and “A Notable Evening of Romance.”

“Nevadans should be outraged that their money is being spent on such frivolous expenditures,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “This waste can be eliminated if taxpayers demand that their elected officials become more accountable and efficient in how they manage state and local programs.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. The Nevada Policy Research Institute is a free-market think tank that seeks private solutions to public challenges facing Nevada, the West and the nation.