Overtime to drop with cut in salaries

The Regional Transportation Commission approved Thursday reclassifying some hourly staff positions to salaried jobs, a move an officials said could save more than $130,000 in overtime costs.

Fifty-two positions were changed from hourly to salaried, a move that Transportation Commission General Manager Jacob Snow said falls in line with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The change will affect 68 employees.

Those employees will no longer be eligible for overtime. Snow said the expected decrease in overtime costs is $297,174.

The move, however, led to an increase in overall benefits and salaries of $165,012. But subtracting that from the potential decrease in overtime, Snow said the Transportation Commission could save about $132,162.

The Transportation Commission has more than 250 employees.

The reclassification brought salary increases for the more technical positions, Snow said. The old pay scale was based on Clark County pay rates.

For example, a project engineer had the potential to make a maximum of $87,360. Under the new classification a project engineer can make a maximum of $94,205.

But other positions saw cuts.

Previously, a custodian could make a maximum of $43,700.80. The new classifications would allow a custodian to make a maximum of $42,930.

"Our goal is just to be competitive" when it comes to offering salaries for the more technical positions, he said.

Snow said there is not a large group of technical applicants locally and the Transportation Commission must entice applicants to relocate with competitive salaries.

The Transportation Commission board approved the changes unanimously and without discussion.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2904.