Employees give county salary break

A revised labor contract will go into effect in July that will reduce Clark County employees' yearly pay raises as a budget crunch looms.

County commissioners on Tuesday approved the change in the contract and praised workers for voting on April 3 to scale back their wage increases.

"If they had said 'no,' the discussion would have been over," Commissioner Rory Reid said.

Reid said he wants commissioners to discuss at the next meeting the possibility of freezing their salaries.

"If we are asking our employees to do that, we should do that as well," Reid said.

Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 will see their cost-of-living raises drop to 1 percent from 3 percent and their merit raises capped at 4 percent instead of 5 percent.

In return for the concessions, the labor contract will be extended to July 2010, though the county can ask to renegotiate it next year if the economy worsens.

The county's non-union employees and managers also agreed to either trim their pay raises or forgo salary increases, said Don Burnette, the county's chief administrative officer.

The savings add up to $18 million when you count reduced labor costs at departments supported by user fees instead of property taxes, such as McCarran International Airport, Burnette said.

He estimated savings of $5.8 million to the general fund.

An economic downturn is compelling public employee unions throughout the valley to explore cutting or lowering pay raises.

The firefighters' union in North Las Vegas will forgo a 3.5 percent wage increase for a year.

And Las Vegas city workers took a 1 percentage point cut in their cost-of-living raises for a year.

Curbing pay raises will help the county offset its budget shortfall, Burnette said.

The county expects to receive at least $114 million less this year to cover operating costs.

"We have more work to do, for sure," Burnette said.

Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.