Jail deal would save money, cost jobs in North Las Vegas

The North Las Vegas jail will close, and nearly 300 prisoners will be transferred to the Las Vegas jail, under an agreement approved Wednesday by city councils in both cities.

North Las Vegas will lay off more than 80 employees at its jail, keeping about 45 to staff a section of the Las Vegas jail that it will lease for five years. The jail has an estimated 130 employees.

The action will save North Las Vegas $11 million next year and $16 million each year after that, police Chief Joseph Chronister told city officials.

"This is not anything the City Council wants to do, as far as laying people off," Mayor Shari Buck said just before the council's unanimous vote.

That vote followed a unanimous vote earlier in the day by the Las Vegas City Council approving the agreement.

The jail closure is part of massive budget-cutting measures in North Las Vegas that have included protracted battles with its unions, hundreds of job cuts and pay cuts or pay freezes for top officials.

"These days are not the same as they have been in the last 20 years," the mayor said.

The North Las Vegas council also approved pay cuts of 4.8 percent for its city manager and city attorney and introduced an ordinance that, when heard at the next council meeting, would eliminate cost-of-living increases and other benefits for the mayor, council members and municipal judges.

The jail closure plan covers the next five years, beginning July 1, which is when the new fiscal year starts for government agencies. The agreement can be extended at the end of the five years if both cities agree, though North Las Vegas officials expressed a desire to day operate their own jail again.

North Las Vegas will pay Las Vegas $3.3 million per year to house up to 315 inmates, plus $25 a day for each male inmate and $110 for each female inmate. The per-inmate costs are designed to cover medical, food and laundry expenses.

North Las Vegas will operate one wing of the jail, at Stewart Avenue and Mojave Road, staffing it with its own employees. That wing will house male inmates. Female inmates will be housed with Las Vegas' female inmates and will be cared for by Las Vegas jail employees.

"We are going to save jobs, we are going to run more efficiently, and we are going to continue to show the folks up in Carson City we know how to do our business," North Las Vegas City Manager Tim Hacker said.

He was referring to efforts by North Las Vegas to avoid a takeover by the state Department of Taxation because of the city's budget woes.

The Las Vegas jail, which is used for misdemeanor offenders, has a capacity of 1,050, but on a typical day houses about 700.

Police officials have expressed concern that transporting prisoners into another city will keep officers off the street for too long.

"My concern is that the citizens won't be protected and the officers won't be protected," said Leonard Cardinale, the president of the North Las Vegas Police Supervisors Association.

His union last week sued the city over an attempt by the city manager to invalidate portions of union contracts as a way to save money.

Cardinale implied Wednesday night before the council that city officials were closing the jail as a way to get back at the unions.

"It might be about laying off people who are in unions," he said.

But Chronister said the Las Vegas jail is only three miles farther away than the North Las Vegas jail is.

And, he said, Las Vegas officials have promised to put North Las Vegas officers on the fast-track when it comes to booking inmates.

He promised the jail issue would have no effect on law enforcement in the city.

"If you commit a crime in the city of North Las Vegas, you will go to jail. I can promise you that."

Review-Journal reporter Benjamin Spillman contributed to this story. Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307 and reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.