Boulder City proposes stretching worker pay increase over two years

Boulder City Mayor Roger Tobler appeared Wednesday before Police Protective Association members and nearly the entire city rank-and-file Teamsters membership at Boulder Creek Golf Club to explain the city's dire financial picture in preparation for talks with union representatives.

The city proposes to spread a previously negotiated 5 percent cost-of-living increase for the 2010 fiscal year over a two-year period, fiscal years 2010 and 2011. The move would add a fourth year to a three-year contract scheduled to expire at the end of June 2010. The third year of the contract begins July 1, 2009, which is the start of the 2010 fiscal year.

Teamsters representative Steve Harney attended the 20-minute meeting in which none of about 130 members in attendance asked a question when given the opportunity

Harney said in an interview after the meeting that "this was a good first step" in reopening the contract discussions when he and Teamsters Local 14 President Larry Griffith sit down in the weeks ahead with City Manager Vicki Mayes.

City employees in several occupations are represented by the Teamsters union.

Like other city and state governments in Nevada and elsewhere, Boulder City is facing budget problems because of rising expenses and declining revenues.