Layoffs or contract concessions?

Well, well.

In a search for the boldest local government entity, most willing to "grasp the bull by the horns" and "tell it like it is," the name of the Las Vegas City Council might not always leap first to mind.

But that honor may indeed go to Mayor Oscar Goodman and the governing board of downtown Las Vegas, following their tough talk to their local employees' unions, this month.

No one hopes to see one more worker lose his or her job due to the current economic slowdown, and that includes government employees. Every wage-earner who gets laid off or cut back means that much less revenue for dry cleaners, shoe and clothing and auto dealers -- even the purveyors of "non-discretionary" items such as food know families can cut back quite a bit when they need to.

But listen to our elected officials in Carson City and even at the Clark County Government Center, and you'd think their main duty was to make sure no Nevada government employee ever has to forgo an annual raise, or suffer the indignity of being asked to pay a larger share of their own health, pension and insurance costs -- no matter what the private economy is doing, no matter what the added cost to the long-suffering private taxpayer.

By contrast, Las Vegas made the current choice facing the city and its employees starkly clear Wednesday, instructing department heads they should be ready to lay off workers if a deal cannot be reached with employee unions to slow the current growth in personnel spending.

In a motion that passed unanimously, Mayor Oscar Goodman said department heads should prepare lists detailing how they could cut staffing by 5 percent.

"We have to be in a position that, if we can't come to some kind of accord, that we know how to proceed or at least have alternatives to consider," he said.

With the economic slowdown reducing tax revenues, city projections show that without cost-cutting, the city faces a $150 million shortfall over the next five years.

City officials have said they need the four unions representing most city employees to accept, for example, smaller annual raises than are allotted in labor contracts. Finance Director Mark Vincent has said the city needs to reduce the annual increase in salary costs by about 1 percentage point.

On Wednesday, outgoing City Manager Doug Selby said the city might also look at offering early retirement incentives.

"Our discussions here are all about preserving our work force by lowering the cost of our work force," Mr. Selby said. "Our fallback, our option that we could exercise ... is a reduction in force. The city is working very hard to avoid that."

Mayor Goodman had wanted the four unions that represent most city workers to be ready to enter new contract talks by Wednesday. Union leaders are pleading for more time to allow their "forensic accountant" to verify the city's financial projections.

"We asked for documents in October, and we just got them last week," protested Tommy Ricketts, president of the Las Vegas City Employees Association.

Their accountant's review will not be ready until the end of the month at the earliest, Mr. Ricketts said. But Mayor Goodman has scheduled another look at the situation on Jan. 7, saying "time is of the essence. ... We don't have much leeway.

"I do expect to have answers" on Jan. 7, the mayor said. "If we don't have answers -- and this isn't a threat -- we have to be prepared as to what we're going to do as a city."

In a letter to the City Council, Mr. Ricketts asked for patience as the unions go through the city's finances. "Once we receive that report we could then take action ... possibly voting to open closed articles of our contract to help the city budget," he said.

That's great. But make no mistake, public employee unions are not in the habit of granting concessions just to be "helpful." If the unions cooperate -- as they should -- it will be because they've been convinced the city faces a stark choice between cost cutbacks and layoffs.

Mayor Goodman and the City Council appear to have cut through all the frills and double-talk Wednesday, laying those bare cards on the table.

Good for them.