Pay hikes: Collins makes point, commissioners don’t bite
Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins made a short-lived push for more transparency from his commission colleagues Tuesday.
Collins and his fellow board members are getting pay raises and he said he just wanted the public to know if any of them are rejecting the raise awarded but made optional by the state Legislature.
His move came several weeks after he pointed out in a meeting that commissioners were scheduled to get raises while Clark County is at an impasse in contract negotiations with the Service Employees International Union Local 1107.
The county has frozen raises for some 4,700 employees in the union, saying it’s required to do so under a new state law. The union disagrees and has filed a complaint with the state’s Employee Management Relations Board.
The county and the SEIU went before an arbitrator last week and are awaiting a final decision on a new contract, after two years of failed efforts to reach a collective bargaining agreement.
Collins didn’t dwell on the labor dispute in his public remarks Tuesday, saying instead that commissioners should fill out signed public forms that disclose whether they accept their pay increases.
“I just wanted to make sure we had that in a transparent manner,” Collins said.
His fellow commissioners didn’t bite. When commission Chairman Steve Sisolak asked if there was any further discussion, the room fell silent. None of Collins’ six peers appeared interested in talking about their salaries — and raises — any further.
The Nevada Legislature, not commissioners, determines raises.
This session legislators gave commissioners the ability to turn down all or a portion of their scheduled raises.
They also gave commissioners annual 3 percent raises across a four-year period, with the first 3 percent raise starting on July 1. The last scheduled raise kicks in on July 1, 2018.
Under the law, commissioners also can turn down all or a portion of their longevity pay, which kicks in after eight years.
Longevity pay has been a sore spot between the county and the SEIU, as county management has pushed to end the benefit for future hires to save money. The union has resisted.
Local SEIU President Martin Bassick said the county could have lobbied state lawmakers to end longevity pay for future elected commissioners, but didn’t, calling it a “lack of fairness.”
However, Sisolak said that the commission in July 2013 agreed to seek a bill draft request eliminating longevity for future commissioners. Meeting minutes show that decision. That effort didn’t gain traction after the county left the statewide issue to the Nevada Association of Counties, where its representative is Collins.
“The argument that commissioners don’t want to eliminate longevity (for future commissioners) is disingenuous,” Sisolak said.
After Tuesday’s meeting, Collins conceded his effort was dead after no one appeared interested in further discussion.
Commissioner salaries aren’t secret. It just might take a little more work for residents to find without the forms that Collins wanted them to use.
The public can still file a public records request at the end of July and compare commissioners’ June pay periods to their July pay periods and check for increases.
Commissioners’ annual salaries in 2014 ranged from $79,726 to $94,411, with Collins getting the largest salary due to his longevity with the county.
Collins isn’t suggesting that commissioners should turn down their raises — just be transparent about their decision.
He said he doesn’t want the public forced to wait for salary information to be posted on other websites, such as Transparent Nevada. That arm of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a Las Vegas-based conservative think tank, posts government salary data.
Asked if he’ll take his raise, Collins didn’t hesitate to disclose his plans to an inquiring reporter.
“Yes,” he said. “I earned it.”
But the term-limited commissioner won’t be getting four years of raises through 2018. He’s only eligible for this year’s raise and another in July 2016 before the November 2016 election for his open seat. This is his last term on the commission due to a state law that imposed term-limits on elected offices in Nevada.
Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.