North Las Vegas might suspend parts of union contracts as budget crisis deepens

If North Las Vegas city officials don't do something drastic, the city will be left without enough cops and firefighters to keep its residents safe, according to a scathing 21-page resolution proposed Wednesday by its city manager.

City officials want to employ an obscure state law designed for major emergencies - "such as riot, military action, natural disaster or civil disorder" - to break union contracts.

They say they have little choice. Public safety is on the line.

"We have an obligation to do everything we can to keep our citizens safe," said Mayor Shari Buck, who sent letters to the unions last week urging more concessions. "It's certainly an un­precedented step, but I believe this is the right step."

The City Council is scheduled to vote on City Manager Tim Hacker's proposal June 1, though the unions could offer concessions before then. It would temporarily suspend the portions of union contracts that deal with pay raises, uniform allowances and vacation buyback programs. The council could review the decision again next year.

The unions say the proposal is ridiculous, that it's one more bargaining tactic in a long feud with the city. They say city officials are lying, that the city is a laughingstock, that the city manager should be fired because he's clearly out of his league. They want the state government to step in and do something.

"They're grasping at straws," said Jeff Hurley, president of the International Association of Firefighters 1607, which represents the city's firefighters.

"They are just flat-out lying," said Mike Yarter, president of the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association. "They're trying to use their police officers out here as political pawns."

Welcome to the world of the Big Budget Collapse of 2012.

It pits officials in the city hit hardest of any in the country by the collapse of housing prices against police officers and firefighters who say they've sacrificed much in the past three years and no longer believe what city officials say.

approach by city officials called novel

So, is a housing collapse that resulted in a 37 percent drop in property tax revenues to the city and a 29 percent drop in consolidated tax revenue in three years on par with, say Hurricane Katrina? A riot? Civil disorder?

Maybe.

"I've never heard of an interpretation along these lines," said historian Guy Rocha, the former state archivist. "My impression is he (Hacker) is really extending himself on this."

It might work, though.

"The issue here is that the housing crisis may constitute a similar emergency," said Robert Lang, a professor of urban affairs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and head of the university's Lincy Institute, a think tank that focuses on Nevada issues.

Lang released a paper this week focusing on North Las Vegas' financial problems, which he says can largely be blamed on the housing crisis.

The city has no real downtown, no real business core, no central entertainment district to bring in tax revenue.

As it grew from a quiet suburb into the state's third-largest city over the past two decades, the city counted on property taxes and an outdated formula that distributes sales taxes to municipalities.

But when housing prices tumbled, the debris fell on North Las Vegas.

City officials say property tax revenue plummeted from $62 million in 2009 to an estimated $39 million this year.

As a result, the city faces a huge financial hole in the upcoming fiscal year, starting July 1. Officials say they face deficits of $19.1 million in the general fund budget of $123 million and $11.8 million in the public safety fund of $41.6 million. In recent years, the unions have conceded to the city's demands, giving up contractual benefits including raises, uniform allowances and vacation-day buy-back programs.

But not this year.

Budget-tightening includes job cuts

The resolution says the holiday sell-back program alone will cost the city $7.7 million in the next budget cycle. Employees are allowed to "sell" their unused vacation time back to the city for extra pay.

Uniform allowances are scheduled to provide police officers $915 in December and the same amount in June 2013, while providing firefighters $450 twice, too. Overall, that will cost the city $1.2 million.

Cost-of-living raises of between 2.5 percent and 6.6 percent are also scheduled this year and next. The city did not say how much those raises will cost overall, but noted that its police and firefighters are paid well above average already.

The average police officer salary in North Las Vegas is $78,000. It's $82,000 for firefighters. Both are above the national average.

Last week, ahead of a June 1 deadline to submit its budget to the state Department of Taxation, the City Council authorized 217 job eliminations, including 100 from the Police Department and 57 from the Fire Department. That would constitute 18 percent of personnel within the Police Department and one-third in the Fire Department.

Police and fire union officials say many of those 217 jobs are already vacant, though city officials won't say how many. The city says they have frozen or eliminated 800 jobs already since 2009.

The elimination of 157 more jobs in public safety, however, could leave the city without enough police officers and firefighters to keep residents safe.

Both departments are already understaffed when compared to other local departments.

City officials say they have 1.24 police officers per 1,000 residents, well below the Metropolitan Police Department's 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents. North Las Vegas has 0.68 firefighters per 1,000 residents, below Las Vegas' 0.9 fire­fighters per 1,000 residents.

Sgt. Tim Bedwell, police spokesman, said the department can't afford to lose officers.

"I don't think anyone is suggesting there is mayhem or that there would be massive, terrible crimes committed," Bedwell said. "There is a general lack of adherence to the law, which results from a reduction in police services lower than what the minimum should be."

Outside of the proposal, the department is expected to reduce its jail staff and transfer some inmates to other facilities.

Bedwell said there have been high-level discussions with the Metropolitan Police Department to form a contingency plan for public safety in case council members reject the proposed resolution and layoffs ensue.

In that case, Las Vegas police could pick up some of the department's policing responsibilities.

The city has contacted Clark County management regarding a fire department backup plan, but no details have been fleshed out, a county spokesman said.

issues might be Headed to court

Hacker cited Nevada Revised Statute 288.150 on Wednesday. The statute covers employee relations with governmental entities in Nevada.

The relevant portion is paragraph four, which states, in part:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of any collective bargaining agreement negotiated pursuant to this chapter, a local government employer is entitled to take whatever actions may be necessary to carry out its responsibilities in situations of emergency such as a riot, military action, natural disaster or civil disorder. Those actions may include the suspension of any collective bargaining agreement for the duration of the emergency."

Hacker said the "civil disorder" portion of the law applies, saying any reduction in police or fire could "produce a threat to public safety and welfare, and we take that quite seriously."

"It's just another attempt by them to get us to give up benefits that we've negotiated," said Yarter of the police union. "We've been through this five times now."

He laughed at the city's attempt to use a state law designed for natural disasters in this situation, calling it a "last-ditch effort."

He said the city has mismanaged its money and that the "crisis" is not as bad as officials are trying to make it seem.

If the city is having a financial "emergency," he asked rhetorically, why didn't Hacker say so when he testified before the Department of Taxation earlier this month?

"We will do exactly what they want," Yarter said, which he thought was to be "tied up in court over this."

Hurley, from the firefighters union, made a similar vow.

He said the firefighters have given up $20 million in concessions in the past four years and already agreed to the city's concession demands this year, but with one condition: that the city consolidate its fire department with another city's.

He said Hacker rejected that.

"This current city management is out of their league," Hurley said, adding that he believes Hacker should be fired.

Contact reporter Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan@review journal.com or 702-455-4519. Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.