Officials worry higher state salaries could lead to water rate hikes

A bill in the Nevada Legislature would give the Colorado River Commission more flexibility to boost salaries to retain staff, but some local elected officials say it gives the 35-employee agency too much leeway to hand out raises. And they worry salary hikes could lead to higher water rates.

Senate Bill 46 would exempt the Colorado River Commission, a state agency, from following the set salary schedule that other state government employees receive. The bill would do the same thing for the state’s Public Utilities Commission.

River commission officials seeking the change say they need to keep wages competitive to stop other employers from luring away staffers. Supporters also point out that its money comes from water and power customers — not tax dollars.

Commission officials say they lost a manager making about $100,000 annually to a utility company in Washington state, where he got a salary of about $150,000.

“We’re finding it difficult to keep staff and to recruit staff, and so what we want to be able to do is recruit and retain employees once we train them up,” said Jayne Harkins, executive director of the commission.

The commission manages and sells water and power that come from the Colorado River. One of its biggest clients is the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has publicly voiced concerns about the bill. The authority says checks and balances are needed, since the state agency’s spending could lead to higher water rates for local residents and businesses.

Local officials who have sent the agency letters outlining concerns include County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, County Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee and Henderson City Councilman Sam Bateman.

Officials raised concerns about the lack of oversight from a elected board and the lack of a full salary study. The commission board includes three elected officials and four others appointed by the governor.

Sisolak noted that the bill preserves employees right to state benefits and the pension system, while exempting them from the salary schedule.

“They want to deviate, and it’s not fair,” Sisolak said, adding it encourages other agencies to do the same. “That’s a very, very bad precedent to set.”

The Colorado River Commission voted last week 5-2 to support the bill, with opposition coming from Sisolak and Boulder City Councilman Duncan McCoy.

Harkins said that if the bill were to pass, any budget and raises would still need approval in an open meeting by the commission board. She said the commission has done some initial analysis on salaries and intends to do more before any raises would be given.

Las Vegas Councilman Bob Coffin, who sits on the commission, was one of the five votes of support.

Coffin said he’ll need to see more data and comparisons between individual commission employee salaries and other employers before approving a budget with raises.

“My support is conditioned on the commission coming up with more data to show we need to do this,” Coffin said.

The bill was re-referred on April 6 to the Senate Committee on Finance from the Senate Government Affairs Committee.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.