Arbitration

Binding arbitration has made Southern Nevada's unionized local government employees the best-paid public workers in America. Now the Clark County School District's police officers want a piece of the action.

That's bad news for public schools, and even worse news for beleaguered taxpayers.

When local government managers and public employee bargaining groups sit down to negotiate new contracts, the doors are closed to the public and the talks are confidential. The secrecy allows unions to make outrageous demands that would send taxpayers into the streets, toting torches and pitchforks, were opening offers ever disclosed.

After several months of talks, union negotiators reduce their demands to something less than unreasonable but more than the public can afford, then they dig in. They have an ace in the hole: the arbitrator.

This one person, who never has to interact with or answer to voters, gets the final say on stalled contract talks, even those derailed through bad-faith negotiations. And one of the arbitrator's most important considerations in reaching a "fair" resolution is looking at what other jurisdictions pay their workers. So one jurisdiction is ordered to cough up huge pay raises because another did so the previous year. Local government entities take turns driving up each other's salary and benefit costs.

This process has greatly benefited valley police officers, who earn high base salaries and generous overtime compensation, not to mention a pension upon retirement. The compensation is so good that tax revenues can't keep up amid the recession.

The school district's police officers are unhappy that they make $10,000 to $13,000 less in base pay than Las Vegas officers, on average. Although school police have less jurisdiction and responsibility than city cops, and the school district faces daunting fiscal challenges, officers won't bend on what they think they're due. They want binding arbitration to determine their salary table.

The school district is fighting the officers' effort by claiming they don't meet the legal definition of police officers. The Local Government Employee Management Relations Board could decide the issue in a month.

The school district is right in this case, and it should prevail. School police officers, unlike teachers, get overtime pay. That has allowed some officers to be paid over $100,000 a year, a total the district clearly can't afford.

It will only get worse if school officers get the right to binding arbitration, which is all the more reason for the Legislature to scrap the law that makes it possible in the first place.