Henderson’s spending plan calls for more cuts

More costs will be cut and employees bought out as Henderson continues to weather the economic downturn .

The city's $498 million spending plan for the coming fiscal year calls for another $1.7 million in voluntary buyouts for employees and $4 million in cuts aimed at reducing a projected deficit of $19 million.

City Council members approved the budget in a unanimous vote Tuesday night.

The spending plan for the coming year is $30.5 million, or about 6 percent, less than the current $528.9 million budget.

The city's operational spending is actually expected to grow by about $7 million as a result of a jail expansion, new parks and trails and an increase in the city's contribution to the public employee retirement system.

Overall, Henderson has reduced spending by more than $105 million since 2008 while avoiding massive layoffs and union fights that played out elsewhere in Southern Nevada.

City Finance Director Richard Derrick credits the city's swift response and the favorable position it was in when the downturn began.

Henderson already ran a comparatively lean operation, and officials and union leaders reacted quickly and cooperatively when the boom went bust, Derrick said.

Excluding public safety personnel, Henderson has reduced its total staff by 17 percent over the past three years.

Most of the cuts have come in the city's Development Services Center, which opened in 2004 as a one-stop shop for developers and others conducting business with the city's planning and building departments. Traffic there has dropped sharply since the collapse of the housing market. In April, 15 more jobs were cut from the center.

Yet only three city workers have been laid off, and no additional layoffs are planned.

Most of Henderson's staff cuts have been achieved through a voluntary employee severance plan. Since it was launched in 2009, 202 workers have taken $9.7 million in buyout money. Some 80 percent of those positions remain vacant, saving the city about $600,000 each pay period or almost $16 million a year.

With $1.7 million currently earmarked for more buyouts, Derrick hopes to be able to eliminate another 20 to 25 positions from the city's complement of 1,869 full-time workers.

Human resources director Fred Horvath said he expects to get a dozen or more takers right away when the next round of buyouts are made available to city employees today.

The $19 million budget shortfall projected for the coming year is some $6 million higher than the current year's deficit, due in large part to an expected $5.1 million decline in property tax revenue.

That's on top of an estimated $15.8 million drop in property tax collections in the past year.

" Nobody ever thought it would last this long or go so deep," Derrick said of the recession. "Our journey isn't over."