Sunday, October 17, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ADVISORY QUESTION: Sheriff seeks sales tax to hire officers

Audit finds more police needed, current spending could be cut

As voters consider a sales tax hike for more police, Sheriff Bill Young last week said the Metropolitan Police Department is a tightly run organization worthy of more taxpayer money.

Young earlier this year called for an outside audit of the department before going to voters for more money.

The audit found the number of officers has increased proportionately with the local population, but that calls-for-service have outpaced staffing and that more officers are needed for proactive policing.

The audit and a review of police salaries, however, show wages in Southern Nevada are some of the highest in the country when cost of living is taken into account.

Also, the department's costs relating to workers' compensation, take-home vehicles, uniform allowances and shift deployment may be higher than necessary.

Additionally, unlike other departments, Las Vegas' civilian employees -- such as secretaries, clerks, computer technicians and others -- receive paid lunches.

The department does "many things very well in terms of efficiencies. Is it a perfect organization? No," said Richard Brady, president of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Matrix Consulting Group, which completed the audit in May.

Young and other local police officials are asking voters to support the advisory question so departments across Southern Nevada can hire hundreds of additional officers.

Las Vegas and Clark County officials, responsible for overseeing the Metropolitan Police Department's budget, said they support the proposal because more officers are needed.

They said the sheriff must cut spending, but the need for more police is a separate issue.

"The bottom line is that we need more police officers," Las Vegas City Councilman Larry Brown said. "They also have to demonstrate, like all of us, how they are being efficient with the taxpayer's money."

Young argues the current ratio of 1.7 officers for every 1,000 residents is too low to combat a crime rate that has grown with the population. The tax hike is a good deal because much of it is paid by tourists, Young said.

The sales tax would increase a quarter cent, to 7.75 percent next year, and then to 8 percent four years later. Young estimates the first hike would cost the average citizen $12.50 a year.

Opponents of the measure say sales tax revenue has skyrocketed 12 percent to 15 percent a year in Clark County and the ongoing revenue increases are sufficient to hire police each year.

Young in 2003 had his request for 389 new officers slashed to 35 by county and city officials. In March, he requested 145 additional officers but received 100 after county officials said they couldn't afford more.

Findings of the Matrix audit and a review of police officer salaries across the country by the Web site policepay.net, a consulting business used by unions in negotiating contracts, show the following:

• Among police departments in the 200 largest cities in the country, salaries in North Las Vegas, Henderson and Las Vegas are among the seven highest when the cost of living in the different communities is factored in.

• Las Vegas police could increase staffing by 25 percent by replacing 10-hour shifts with either eight-hour or 12-hour shifts. Doing so would eliminate six hours in shift overlap each day.

• Las Vegas police provide uniforms free of charge and officers are given a $1,225 annual allowance to clean them. Other police departments reviewed in the audit gave officers between $400 and $900 to both purchase and clean uniforms.

• Nearly 40 percent of Las Vegas police vehicles are assigned to employees who take them home on evenings and weekends. Although the auditor didn't question the need for detectives, SWAT officers and others to have a vehicle, he did say take-home vehicles typically aren't given to employees in human resources, information technology and other administrative and clerical positions.

• In Las Vegas, 42 of every 100 police employees filed worker compensation claims last year. In other departments, the range was 22 to 28 claims for every 100 employees. The average claim in Las Vegas was $5,040, or 15 percent to 35 percent higher than the other departments.

Young on Wednesday said department administrators are reviewing some of the auditor's suggestions, but that he won't even consider other recommendations from the "bean counters" at Matrix.

"Nobody is getting rich working for Metro," Young said. "It's a tough profession, and I believe the officers earn every dime they make. ... We're not flipping hamburgers here."

City and county officials said they expect the department to address the audit's recommendations, implement plans for saving money and be prepared to justify expenditures when the sheriff submits his yearly budget request next spring.

"The sheriff has told us and the public he will take the findings of the audit seriously and make changes, and we should expect him to do that," Commissioner Rory Reid said. "In times like these we need additional officers. And, at the end of the day, the community will agree and Question 9 will pass."

Young said the Southern Nevada job market is so competitive, its departments must pay more for qualified officers.

It's impossible to lower salaries, he said, because wages are cemented in a contract with the police officers union. The union never will agree to lower salaries so that more officers can be hired, Young said.

"We have to compete with the market here in Clark County to get qualified cops," Young said. "Henderson and North Las Vegas (police departments) are paying more than we are."

County and city officials in February questioned why the Metropolitan Police Department's 1,379 civilian employees receive paid lunches when their contemporaries at the city and county do not.

The department subsidizes enough paid lunches to equal 155 employees in a year's time. A national law enforcement expert earlier this year said it is not common for civilian employees to be paid during lunch hours.

Undersheriff Douglas Gillespie said earlier this year the department is a seven-day-a-week, around-the-clock operation, and it's prudent for employees to be paid while they eat lunch.

Young said Wednesday police administrators plan to address the costs of workers' compensation claims and implement a more stringent policy on take-home vehicles.

The 669 employees who take vehicles home represent only about 15 percent of the department's nearly 4,300 employees, he said.

"We have modified our vehicle take home policy," Young said. "It's not like every Tom, Dick and Harry around here gets a take-home vehicle."

Assistant Sheriff Ray Flynn said a committee will start reviewing the policy in January.

To curtail the cost of workers' compensation claims, Young last year started ordering injured officers to answer phones at the department's 911 Communications Center.

Young said the department's Risk Management Department has been diligent in reducing fraud in workers' compensation, but the audit said Risk Management hasn't been proactive in lowering costs.

Young said he will not alter the 10-hour shifts even though the audit said a change would increase staffing by 25 percent. He also won't lower the uniform allowance because he wants officers to look good.

"Our officers have to take their uniform to the dry cleaners and they have to work 180 days a year," Young said. "I don't see that as something that is out of whack. ... If you retracted all that money, would it hire more cops?"

Young said the 10-hour shifts provide better police coverage because two shifts are on duty simultaneously at critical times.

The current shifts also reduce overtime costs and give officers more time for proactive crime-fighting.

Also, he said, it's important for officers to have three days off per week to mitigate job stress, he said.

The Matrix audit also found the department's top management is "lean," that it has tight financial controls in place and saves money by outsourcing operations.

The department engages in a high level of traffic law enforcement, the audit states.

Investigators handle large caseloads and the department is involved in several task forces that handle auto theft, narcotics, vice and Internet crimes.