EDITORIAL: Failed pension system to blame for trooper shortages

The problem that Nevada politicians don’t want to talk about keeps causing problems.

The Review-Journal’s McKenna Ross recently reported on the dire straits facing the Nevada Department of Public Safety. As of late May, its vacancy rate was 45 percent, although department officials said the rate had dropped to 21.6 percent as of July 1. The department contains several divisions, including the Nevada Highway Patrol.

Those vacancies aren’t spread equally throughout various divisions. Las Vegas has around half the NHP road troopers it needs, according to Luis Villanueva, a sworn recruiter for Southern Nevada. That has left many highways looking a bit like the Wild West.

Those in rural Nevada aren’t happy either. In February, Mineral County Sheriff Bill Ferguson penned a scathing letter about the Highway Patrol.“When a man was shot on a Nevada state highway, the very agency responsible for patrolling our state’s roads refused to respond,” Mr. Ferguson wrote. “This isn’t negligence — its abandonment.”

The Highway Patrol’s problem isn’t hiring officers. It’s keeping them. In recent years, it has almost always had more officers depart than cadets hired.

Troopers aren’t leaving because of a successful “defund the police” campaign. Just the opposite. Members of the Nevada state police received a 23 percent pay hike in 2023. That was the highest single-year bump in their history. The following year they received another 11 percent bump.

The underlying problem is Nevada’s Public Employees Retirement System. The chronically underfunded system doles out lavish benefits to top retirees. Dozens rake in more than $200,000 a year for life. But the system didn’t collect enough money in previous decades to be fully funded. That means it also lost out on stock market gains and the power of compound interest.

To make up for the shortfall, PERS has dramatically raised the contribution rates of current employees. Local police officer contribution rates have gone from 44 percent in January 2023 to 58.75 percent as of July 1. That contribution is split equally between the employer (read: taxpayers) and employee, but the employer pays it before it hits a police officer’s paycheck. This is why Metropolitan Police Department officers briefly considered striking over reduced take-home pay despite receiving a compensation increase.

State troopers are in the same system, but some state employees pay into PERS directly. That means a Nevada trooper might see a 30 percent PERS contribution taken directly out of his or her paycheck — up from 25.75 percent last month. Many recently hired troopers transfer to local law enforcement agencies because doing so boosts their take-home pay.

Increased PERS contributions are straining budgets throughout the state. Nevadans need leaders willing to confront this issue, not those who keep ignoring it.