Blood-Sucking Mosquitoes Aren't the Only Parasites in Washoe County …

Washoe County’s budget crisis reveals some twisted priorities, putting staff over services, and politics over public health. Despite $27 million deficit, officials choose to cut mosquito control, deny a fire station, and ignore radon concerns rather than trim administrative bloat

Washoe County residents are about to learn a harsh lesson about government priorities: when push comes to shove, protecting bureaucratic jobs matters more than protecting public health and safety.

Facing a devastating $27 million annual budget deficit, Washoe County and its partner agencies have made their choice clear. Rather than examining the bloated administrative apparatus that has grown like a tumor on taxpayer wallets, officials are systematically stripping away the basic services that residents actually need and deserve.

A casualty earlier this year; Northern Nevada Public Health suspending large-scale aerial mosquito treatments this year as part of cost-cutting measures, as reported to This Is Reno with District Health Officer Chad Kingsley saying the decision will help reduce expenses without affecting staff. Translation: we'd rather let disease-carrying mosquitoes proliferate than ask a single bureaucrat to find a new job.

A Washoe 311 public record request we were sent from Spring 2025.

The helicopter mosquito abatement program, which cost about $281,000 annually and was typically done four to five times during spring and summer months, was eliminated because the company the county used went out of business, which we reported in 2023. It was the county’s job to find a new company, but hey, they seemed to want to save the money. For context,
$281,000 is less than the salary and benefits of three mid-level county administrators.

Washoe County citizens are learning the services they expect to receive from Washoe County Government are not happening.

The purpose of the abatement is to reduce the mosquito population, which decreases the chances of mosquito borne diseases such as West Nile Virus spreading to humans, but apparently protecting public health is now a luxury the county can't afford.

Dr. Chad Kingsley's breezy assurance that this cut won't affect staff reveals everything wrong with the county's priorities. Staff preservation has become the primary mission, with actual public service relegated to an afterthought.

The mosquito debacle isn't an isolated incident—it's part of a systematic pattern of betraying public trust while protecting government insiders:

Fire Protection Denied: West Washoe Valley residents have been denied a fire station despite paying taxes and facing genuine emergency response challenges. Apparently, protecting homes from burning down is less important than protecting county employees from budget cuts.

Radon Risks Ignored: The county continues to claim "safe levels" of radon at the Second Judicial District Court, despite concerns that suggest otherwise. When government buildings might be poisoning employees and citizens, the response is denial rather than action.

Mosquito Control Eliminated: Now families will face increased exposure to West Nile Virus and other mosquito-borne diseases because officials prioritized avoiding staff cuts over public health protection.

The truly infuriating aspect of this budget crisis is that it's largely self-inflicted. Budget forecasts show a 5% annual deficit in the general fund totaling an estimated $27 million a year, but rather than examining whether the county has simply ballooned salaries, officials are treating staff levels as sacred while services for county residents are expendable.

This isn't fiscal responsibility—it's fiscal insanity. A government that exists to serve the public but prioritizes protecting its own employees over delivering essential services has lost its way completely.

Dr. Chad Kingsley's approach to the mosquito crisis perfectly encapsulates the county's warped priorities. Kingsley simply declared that staff levels are non-negotiable and services must be cut instead.

This "staff first, public second" mentality represents a fundamental betrayal of the public trust. Kingsley, who serves as District Health Officer for Northern Nevada Public Health and is responsible for protecting the health of about 500,000 County residents and 4.5 million annual visitors, has effectively announced that protecting government paychecks takes precedence over protecting public health.

What we're witnessing is the emergence of an administrative aristocracy—a class of government employees who view their jobs as entitlements rather than public service positions. These bureaucrats have convinced themselves that their continued employment is more important than the safety and wellbeing of the people they're supposed to serve.

Since 2020, there has been one human case of West Nile Virus in Washoe County, and officials seem to be gambling that this low incidence rate will continue even without proper mosquito control. But what happens when it doesn't?

West Washoe Valley residents have been asking for fire protection for years, paying taxes and expecting basic emergency services in return. But building a fire station requires admitting that the county needs to spend money on actual services rather than administrative overhead.

The pattern is clear: when residents need something, the county pleads poverty. When county employees need something, the county finds a way to pay for it. This isn't governance—it's exploitation.

The county's handling of radon concerns at the courthouse represents the same mentality: deny problems rather than address them, because addressing them might require difficult budget choices that affect staffing or administrative priorities.

Government buildings that might be exposing employees and citizens to cancer-causing radon should be a top priority for any responsible administration. Instead, the county's approach appears to be "see no evil, hear no evil, test no evil."

What makes this entire situation more infuriating is the complete absence of accountability. No county official has been asked to explain why protecting staff jobs takes precedence over protecting public health. No one has been required to justify why administrative positions are sacred while essential services are expendable.

The solution to Washoe County's budget crisis is obvious but politically unpalatable: the county has too many employees, the county will not respond to public record requests regarding how many are working from home, at too high a cost. Instead of cutting services, officials should be conducting a top-to-bottom review of staffing levels and administrative efficiency.

But that would require admitting that the county's problems are internal rather than external, structural rather than circumstantial. It would require acknowledging that protecting government jobs isn't the same as protecting the public interest.

Northern Nevada Public Health's decision to suspend mosquito treatments while protecting staff positions represents a fundamental betrayal of public health principles. Public health agencies exist to protect community wellbeing, not to provide job security for government employees.

When a public health agency announces that it will expose the public to increased disease risk rather than examine its own staffing levels, it has lost its moral authority to operate. Dr. Kingsley and the county officials who support this approach have forgotten that they work for the public, not the other way around.

Washoe County residents are being asked to pay more for less—higher taxes for reduced services, increased fees for decreased protection, and continued financial support for a government that prioritizes its own employees over public safety.

This is taxation without representation in its most insidious form. Taxpayers fund a government that then declares their needs secondary to bureaucratic job security. The social contract has been broken, and it's been broken by the very officials who swore to uphold it.

The mosquito debacle, fire station denial, and radon dismissal aren't isolated incidents—they're symptoms of a government that has lost its way. Washoe County has become a jobs program for bureaucrats rather than a service provider for residents.

The choice facing county officials is simple: serve the public or serve yourselves. You can't do both. The decision to sacrifice mosquito control while protecting administrative jobs reveals which path you've chosen.

Residents deserve better. They deserve a government that views public service as a privilege, not a entitlement. They deserve officials who understand that government exists to serve citizens, not to provide comfortable careers for bureaucrats.

The $27 million budget deficit is a problem. The county's response to it is a scandal. And the public needs to hold officials accountable for choosing bureaucratic self-preservation over public health and safety.

The blood-sucking mosquitoes aren't the only parasites Washoe County residents need to worry about. The bigger parasites are the ones cutting essential services while protecting their own jobs—and they're a lot harder to swat.