State services receding

Carson Valley hasn't always had an office of the- Department of Motor Vehicles. The Minden office opened in 1994, bringing full service to town.

Prior to that, the county provided a spot where people could renew their registration in the old courthouse. If you needed a license, the DMV would come down occasionally and set up shop in the Gardnerville firehouse.

With the state budget where it is, it doesn't surprise us that some of the services we've become accustomed to over the past decade are beginning to retreat.

We've already reported that Western Nevada's Minden campus will be closed for the summer. As far as we know, it will reopen in the fall.

In an economic climate where we may have trouble keeping a university open, what chance does our little Minden campus of Western Nevada College have, much less the DMV?

On Friday lawmakers learned that they will have to raise $1 billion in order to just meet the requirements of Gov. Gibbons' budget.

Lawmakers have since told the state they will put back another $100 million, without dealing with the obvious question of where the money's going to come from.

The seriousness of the state's economic troubles will be felt at all levels, when all is said and done.

While we value the services we've received from the state, we know that neither college summer school nor the Gardnerville DMV are priorities.

This is not the time to gripe about losing services we can't afford to keep. Now is the time to cash in what's left of our chips and hope there's enough to make it until things get better.