North Las Vegas City Council takes pass on raises

As the city of North Las Vegas continues to battle with its police and firefighters unions over wages and other benefits, the City Council voted to kill its own raises Wednesday night.

Two ordinances adopted unanimously Wednesday eliminate cost-of-living increases for council members, the mayor and municipal judges in the current fiscal year. Those raises were scheduled to happen automatically.

The mayor makes $47,889 a year, and council members make $41,827. Judges make $148,438.

The council last month declared a financial emergency and gave its city manager unprecedented powers to suspend portions of contracts with its police and fire unions.

The action came as city officials were forced to cut more than $30 million from this year's budget, which followed cuts in each of the past several years.

In recent years, police, fire and Teamsters unions have all agreed to concessions, including suspending pay increases. But this year, all three unions balked.

As a result, the city's jail was closed and more than 80 employees there were laid off. City Manager Tim Hacker wants to virtually eliminate overtime within the Fire Department, which has led to some stations and some apparatus being shut down on various days since July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

The firefighters union says the situation is dangerous, but city officials say that is not so. Stations are shut down only when necessary and the areas affected are covered by other close fire stations. In addition, minor medical calls are handled by a private ambulance company, and the city of Las Vegas has increased its responses into North Las Vegas under a mutual aid agreement the two cities have.

City officials do say layoffs within the police and fire departments would leave the city unsafe, so the emergency order was passed.

That allowed Hacker to suspend scheduled pay increases for firefighters and police officers, as well as eliminate some other benefits. Police and fire unions have appealed the action.

Last month, the council approved pay cuts of 4.8 percent for the city manager and city attorney.

On Wednesday, the council also approved an agreement with its fire­fighters union on health insurance premiums. The union had filed a complaint against the city with the state's Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board. As part of the agreement approved Wednesday, the city agreed to contribute $1,000 a month per union member to the union's newly formed health insurance trust.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.