Raggio criticizes Clark County pay raises
CARSON CITY — Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio criticized Clark County government officials today for negotiating for cost-of-living increases with employee unions at a time when state government might be forced to cut pay of its employees, teachers and university professors by 6 percent because of declining tax revenue.
"This is way off the mark for a local government to negotiate for COLAs (cost-of-living increases) when the state generally recognizes that if we are going to balance the budget we are going to have cuts," the Reno Republican said during a joint Senate-Assembly hearing on education spending.
Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said the county wants to reduce COLAs but it is "contractually obligated" to provide these pay increases.
"We would like to change that if we could," he said. "We have had meetings with the unions on a regular basis since November and we are seeking to reduce labor costs. We cannot reduce any of these costs unless unions agree."
Pappa said management employees are not receiving any kind of salary increases and that through a voluntary monthlong furlough program the county saved $500,000 and that program is continuing to September.
"We don't have the ability to reduce or eliminate COLAs, but we do have the ability to lay off people if it comes to that," he added.
Last month Commission Chairman Rory Reid said he was talking with union officials about scaling back pay increases. Service Employees International Union Local 1107 said at the time they had no intention of changing the county employee pay structure.
Wages for county employees are increasing about 6 percent a year, counting cost-of-living pay increases. A 3 percent cost-of-living increase is scheduled to go into effect in July.
A plan that reduces city of most Las Vegas employees' cost-of-living raises by 1 percentage point was approved by the City Council in January. Most employees, however, will see annual raises of 5 percent to 7 percent.
Raggio noted that public employees in Reno recently agreed to a 2.5 percent reduction in pay as a way to avoid layoffs.
"No one likes the idea of 6 percent cuts, but no one has identified where we will get additional revenue," Raggio said. "We have to recognize that some cuts may be necessary. The message is some of the public employee groups should recognize the concerns of our constituents."
He said the $1.5 billion federal stimulus package signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama "won't go very far" in covering what the Gibbons administration has identified as a $1.8 billion shortfall in funding.
Estimates are that less than $500 million of the stimulus funds could be used to cover that gap.
The minority leader spoke after Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, questioned how the state can cut and eventually restore the proposed 6 percent pay cuts for teachers since their salaries are negotiated between county school districts and labor unions.
While expressing her opposition to cuts to education funding, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, agreed with Raggio that the Legislature will have to make some reductions.
"We are in a dire economic time where we are going to have to come up with solutions that make sense to the state,” Buckley said. “Probably every major area of the state is going to have to absorb some cuts."
Democratic leaders expect to have a plan ready by April 17 on how they would deal with the spending gap.
They have not yet publicly supported tax increases.
During the hearing, Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Ruffles outlined the cuts that will be necessary because of Gibbons' budget plan. The governor wants to cut spending of school districts by 2.6 percent.
Ruffles said "the bottom line is we may have to go into a layoff situation." He said the district might cut its total work force by 1,000 and increase the size of classes.
In his presentation, he noted that funding for athletics will be reduced.
Even with the cuts, Nevada will remain 49th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in its support for public education. Nevada Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim Wells said the budget plan calls for the state to pay the school districts an average of $4,968 per student in the coming year. Only Arizona and Utah pay less in basic support for students, he said.
"I know this is the worst time we have seen for the economy," responded Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas. "Do you have a plan to bring us out of this, so we no longer will be the lowest in the country? I have been here 20 some years and all we do is throw money at it and we still are at the bottom."
State officials said that given the economic conditions, they have no immediate plan to bring Nevada spending on education up to that of the average state.
