NLV aims to reduce union pay

North Las Vegas hopes to soon wrap up negotiations with its three employee unions that would potentially delay or eliminate its employees' cost-of-living raises for a year, saving the financially strapped city about $13.5 million, City Manager Gregory Rose said Wednesday.

The city initiated the talks, which began late last month, as a way to save money in the face of declining tax revenues caused by the economic slowdown.

The talks come not long after city of Las Vegas employees agreed to have their cost-of-living raises reduced by 1 percentage point this year to save money.

North Las Vegas is in the midst of a hiring freeze and has trimmed $16.4 million from its 2008-09 budget. The city's general fund operating budget, made before cuts were approved in February, was $223.6 million.

The city, which has 1,801 full-time employees, is asking its Teamsters, firefighters and police unions to agree to delay or forgo the raises for a year beginning July 1, Rose said. The annual raises range from 3.5 percent to 4 percent.

Employees' separate, annual "step" raises, which average 5 percent, would not be affected, he said.

Teamsters Local 14, which represents 780 city employees in a variety of jobs ranging from secretaries to managers, declined Thursday to discuss the specifics of the negotiations while they are under way.

Rose said talks with both the Teamsters and the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association involve employees forgoing cost-of-living raises for the year. The city would increase the amount of employees' vacation time to "offset" the lost raises, he said. Further details about the additional vacation time were not available Thursday evening.

Rose emphasized that negotiations are ongoing.

"Nothing has been agreed to yet," he said.

Terrence McAllister, president of the union that represents 475 city police and corrections officers, said talks are in the early stages, with no particular benefit reductions or deferrals definitively pinpointed.

"We're trying to be reasonable," he said. "We know this isn't exclusive to North Las Vegas. Economic issues are impacting people across the nation."

The 202 firefighters represented by the International Association of Firefighters Local 1607 would defer cost-of-living raises to later years. The firefighters' contract with the city, which expires in mid-2012, would be extended two years "for us to make up the compensation," Rose said.

Jeff Hurley, president of the union, said the firefighters also would agree to cut their uniform allowance from about $800 a year to about $400 a year and to defer sick leave "sell-back" for a year.

Employees have the option of selling back to the city a portion of their unused sick leave each year.

The firefighters' union finalized its plan with the city Thursday morning, Hurley said. Union members will vote on it in the next couple of weeks.

The negotiations were friendly, Hurley said.

"We stood side-by-side on this," he said. "Let's be honest: It's tough times. The last thing we want to do is lay anyone off or cut services to the citizens."

Dana Phillips, business agent for the Teamsters, said they also agreed to the talks in an effort to avoid layoffs. She described the union's relationship with the city as "generally good" but said, "Anytime you discuss money issues, it can be tense."

"In all honesty, there is a little bit of angst" about the negotiations among Teamsters because the union's last contract with the city, which expires in 2011, was negotiated just last year, she said.

"It's been six months since our contracts were officially signed," Phillips said. "Some of our members are heartburned to have it come back this soon."

The City Council must approve any of the changes before they can go into effect.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.