Public employees who repair Nevada's local streets and highways, operate its city and county jails and fill nonteaching jobs in its school districts are the best paid in the country when compared with their counterparts in the other 49 states and the District of Columbia, according to U.S. Census figures for 2001.
Nevada's local firefighters, government administrators and parks and recreation workers rank second in the nation. Administrative staff for Nevada's local police agencies are third, while Nevada's schoolteachers are 20th.
The numbers are based on a sample of payroll data and employment totals from March 2001 and were compiled by the Census Bureau from 87,453 local governments and school districts. The survey included data sharing and mail questionnaires.
Observers say the Nevada rankings reflect demands driven by the region's 14-year economic boom, which has seen Clark County's population grow from 770,280 in 1990 to nearly 1.6 million today. Seven of every 10 Nevadans live in the county.
The growth has increased the demand for engineers, accountants, police, firefighters, regional planners, government administrators and teachers, with state, county and local governments competing for many of the same people.
"I don't think this is where you want to be 48th or 50th. It might sound good as far as frugality, but there's definitely a trade-off there," said Guy Hobbs, who was chairman of Gov. Kenny Guinn's 2002 tax reform panel.
"You get what you pay for. If you're 49th or 50th in the country, it might sound like you're paying a lot less, but you're probably getting a lot less as far as competency."
To critics of government spending, the figures reflect the financial manipulation by powerful unions of one of the nation's least populous states. County and local government workers in Nevada have the right to unionize. State employees do not. That prohibition was reaffirmed in a Wednesday legislative vote.
"I have no problems with paying people a good living wage, but I can't see that we should be the highest in the nation or near the top when this is a reasonably inexpensive place to live," said Dan Burdish, owner of a Las Vegas auto repair business who is an anti-tax activist. "It's kind of ludicrous to be at the top."
Employee pay is typically the largest expense for most governments, with 65 percent of Clark County's budget going to its workers.
Overall, Nevada ranked seventh among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for average pay of local government workers, according to the census figures.
Silver State workers at county, city and other local agencies earned on average $47,170 for the year. That compared with a national average of $39,093.
California led the way with average pay of $51,038. New Jersey was second followed by New York and Washington, D.C. Mississippi was last at $25,491.
At the state level, Nevada government workers ranked 17th among the 50 states, earning an average of $42,636, compared with a national average of $42,250.
California was again first with average full-time pay of $56,881 for state employees. West Virginia paid its state workers the least at $33,162 annually.
A year ago, Guinn ordered all state agencies to impose 5 percent budget cuts and freeze employee pay. In the coming days, Nevada legislators could increase state taxes by as much as $1 billion to help close a projected $700 million budget deficit over the next two years.
In April, most Clark County workers received pay raises that could boost their pay more than 30 percent over the next four years. County Manager Thom Reilly agreed to the move rather than submit the issue to an arbitrator, who might have imposed a larger increase. The county employs the full-time equivalent of 5,938 workers.
"I don't think that there's any secret that our local government employees are paid well," said Jeremy Aguero, a private sector consultant to Guinn's tax panel. "The number of people who are skilled in government are heavily in demand. That put upward pressure on costs."
Firefighters were the best paid local government workers in Nevada in 2001, earning average full-time pay of $69,803, according to the census figures.
Higher education instructors led the way for state workers, earning average full-time pay of $66,188 at the state's colleges and universities.
Review-Journal staffer Joan Tammariello contributed to this report.
How Nevada Ranks
A selection of job categories for local governments and Nevada's ranking in comparison with other states and the District of Columbia.
NAT'L RANK
JOB CATEGORY
FULL-TIME AVG.
1
CORRECTIONS
$53,973
1
STREETS & HIGHWAYS
52,231
1
ELEM & SEC OTHER*
45,512
2
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION
52,621
2
FIREFIGHTERS
69,803
2
PARKS & RECREATION
43,905
3
POLICE-OTHER*
46,442
4
HOSPITALS
44,008
5
POLICE-ARREST
61,245
7
TOTAL
47,170
8
JUDICIAL-LEGAL
51,190
20
ELEM & SEC INSTRUCTORS
40,978
*Includes administrative and support staff. Source: U.S. Census
Local government pay 2001
RANK
STATE
FULL-TIME AVG.
1
CALIFORNIA
$51,038
2
NEW JERSEY
50,167
3
NEW YORK
48,333
4
D.C.
47,872
5
WASHINGTON
47,359
6
ALASKA
47,264
7
NEVADA
47,170
8
CONNECTICUT
45,940
9
RHODE ISLAND
44,616
10
MARYLAND
44,195
11
MICHIGAN
43,028
12
MASSACHUSETTS
42,208
13
ILLINOIS
41,657
14
MINNESOTA
41,153
15
OREGON
41,093
16
PENNSYLVANIA
40,579
17
HAWAII
40,205
18
WISCONSIN
39,351
19
DELAWARE
38,484
20
COLORADO
38,308
21
OHIO
38,106
22
ARIZONA
36,372
23
VIRGINIA
35,731
24
UTAH
35,400
25
FLORIDA
34,967
26
NEW HAMPSHIRE
34,848
27
NORTH DAKOTA
34,371
28
NEBRASKA
34,100
29
INDIANA
33,461
30
NORTH CAROLINA
33,106
31
IOWA
33,091
32
WYOMING
32,929
33
MISSOURI
32,738
34
GEORGIA
32,279
35
TEXAS
32,229
36
KANSAS
32,033
37
VERMONT
31,759
38
TENNESSEE
31,674
39
MAINE
31,540
40
MONTANA
31,379
41
WEST VIRGINIA
30,977
42
IDAHO
30,975
43
SOUTH CAROLINA
30,516
44
ALABAMA
30,499
45
NEW MEXICO
30,368
46
SOUTH DAKOTA
28,792
47
KENTUCKY
28,653
48
OKLAHOMA
28,641
49
LOUISIANA
28,282
50
ARKANSAS
26,899
51
MISSISSIPPI
25,491
NATIONWIDE AVERAGE
$39,093
Includes District of Columbia. Source: U.S. Census
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