Positions open sign is lit

Amid steep budget cuts and growing talk of more layoffs, Henderson is doing something it hasn't done since October 2008: adding new jobs.

City Council members signed off early this month on plans to create six new positions at the city jail, and the hiring process is under way to fill those slots.

It won't end there, either. Roughly 20 more jobs could be created at the jail in the coming year, thanks to the revenue from renting out empty jail beds to other jurisdictions, a practice that so far has proven to be recession-proof.

Police Chief Jutta Chambers said the money the city collects from its extra jail beds should more than pay for the six jailers being hired.

By housing so-called contract prisoners, Chambers also expects to cover the cost of future jail positions and still wind up with at least the $5 million to $6 million left over.

As city spokesman Bud Cranor put it, "This is actually a move that will probably make the city money."

Chambers said the six new positions are needed to keep the jail secure during the construction of a $29 million addition that will almost double the capacity of the facility.

"What this is going to do is help us weather the expansion," she said.

The second crop of new jail personnel will be needed to staff the 250-bed addition.

Chambers said the exact complement has not yet been determined, but the larger facility could require roughly 20 more employees on top of the six being hired.

The existing jail on Water Street, across the street from City Hall, was originally designed for 262 beds, but it was later modified to hold 293.

Chambers said the facility "consistently" holds more than 300 inmates at a time. Roughly 50 to 60 of those inmates are detained under contract with Clark County or the federal government, both of which are seriously short on jail space, and Boulder City, which has no jail of its own.

Police spokesman Keith Paul said most of the contract beds go to county inmates awaiting hearings in District Court. The city charges the county $101 per inmate per day. Boulder City and the federal agencies pay Henderson $97 per inmate per day.

Paul said the jail expansion was planned before the economic downturn caused tax revenue to plummet in Nevada's second largest city and across the state.

The recession also slowed the city's growth and, Chambers said, might have contributed to a "leveling off" in the number of Henderson inmates in the city jail.

But the chief does not expect that to last. Eventually, she said, the city will need more jail beds for its own inmates. Until then, renting out some of the added beds will help offset the cost of the expansion.

Over the past year, Henderson has eliminated 235 positions citywide through an early retirement buyout program and normal attrition.

"Of that, 120 (jobs) are just gone. They will never be refilled," Cranor said.

So far, only two full-time employees have been laid off -- both from the city's suddenly sleepy Development Services Center -- but additional layoffs could prove unavoidable should the economic downturn force more rounds of budget cuts.

The unions representing Henderson's rank-and-file police officers and firefighters are due to renegotiate their contracts with the city in the coming months. The city also plans to reopen its contract with the Teamsters union next month in light of current budget troubles, Cranor said.

Teamsters Local 14 represents nearly half of the city's 1,856 employees in a broad range of jobs, including administrators, technicians and clerical workers.

The five corrections officers and one corrections captain approved by the City Council on Jan. 5 are expected to cost the city more than $860,000 a year in salary and benefits.

Before the council voted on them, the new positions required the blessing of the city's Critical Position Review Committee, a panel of Henderson administrators formed shortly after the city imposed a hiring freeze in October 2008.

"Anytime you go to the critical needs committee it's a tough sell," Chambers said. "And rightfully so."

Cranor said he hopes the new jail jobs don't get anyone's hopes up. This is not proof that the recovery is under way.

"There is not any indication that the freeze is lifted and the city is hiring again," he said. "There is no sign of that at all."

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.