Power outage hits gloomy NLV budget talks

It was a dark and stormy night in North Las Vegas on Wednesday -- metaphorically perfect weather for gloomy budget talks.

But it was almost overkill, symbolically speaking, when just as the city's finance director completed his dreary forecast of the city's finances -- zap! -- the power went out, leaving the City Council and its chambers in darkness.

"Guess they couldn't afford the power bill," somebody joked.

The outage cut short discussion on the issue, but the council soldiered on in the dark after a brief recess, approving a $15 million savings plan that included delaying the opening of a third municipal courtroom, a fire station and a police station.

Because of plummeting revenues, the city still has an additional $33.4 million to trim to make it through fiscal year 2011, Finance Director Phil Stoeckinger said.

Consolidated tax receipts for October in North Las Vegas were more than 21 percent lower than a year earlier; it was the 14th consecutive month of double-digit decline in such revenue for the city.

And North Las Vegas is running out of places to cut.

"That's throwing in everything and the kitchen sink," Stoeckinger said of the $15 million in proposed savings. "That's everything we've got."

The city soon will have to identify positions to cut, Acting City Manager Maryann Ustick said.

The city already has frozen positions, trimmed departmental budgets, reduced overtime and begun voluntary employee furlough days.

Last year, the city eliminated 67 vacant positions and suspended the popular Tastes & Tunes and BalloonaPalooza festivals to save money.

North Las Vegas's employee unions also agreed to contract concessions last year including cost-of-living deferrals. Savings from those concessions were $8.7 million.

The city has resumed talks with the unions, Stoeckinger said, hoping for further concessions.

Everything, in terms of saving money, is on the table, he said.

"From an economic downturn standpoint, this is the worst period since the Great Depression."

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