Governor’s budget funds vets' home, DMV, engineering building in Reno

In his State of the State address Tuesday night, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval vowed to fund several important Washoe County capital improvement projects.

Throughout his administration, Sandoval has reinforced his commitment to Nevada veterans. In his speech Tuesday, he said he hopes to establish a new budget for the Northern Nevada Veterans Home. The capital improvement project, which was approved during the 2015 legislative session, has been waiting on federal funding before breaking ground.

“I am determined, like all of you, to make Nevada the most veteran friendly state in the nation,” Sandoval said during his speech.

The Northern Nevada Veterans Home is on a nationwide list of veterans homes that are waiting for funding. Governor Sandoval is tired of waiting for funding is hoping to jumpstart the process with state funds.

With the FY18-FY19 budget, Sandoval plans to allocate $36M to actually build the Northern Nevada Veterans Home, which is planned for Sparks.

Mike Willden, Sandoval's Chief of Staff, says the building will be built with state funds and will eventually be reimbursed by the federal government.

The budget also includes $7.6M to manage and operate the home until insurance funding streams are secured from patients.

Budget documents indicated that the building will be ready to open prior to the end of calendar year 2018, near the end of Sandoval’s term.

Governor Sandoval’s budget also includes something that will be to the delight of Washoe County drivers: a replacement Reno DMV location. The DMV location is set for South Reno, but an exact location was not available Tuesday night. Officials did however say that the state already owns the land that the DMV will be built on.

Governor Sandoval is also doubling-down on education. In addition to expanding programs that will improve K-12 education in Nevada as well as funding Nevada Education Savings Accounts, the governor will also fund higher education. Specifically, Sandoval’s budget allocates money to construct a new engineering building on the University of Nevada campus. Half of the $83M facility will be paid by the state. The other half of the funding will be provided by the University of Nevada.