Court rules former city attorney’s benefits can’t be reduced

Friday, Jan. 2, 1998 | 9:52 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Wednesday the pension benefits of former Las Vegas City Attorney Roy Woofter cannot be reduced, even though they are 17 percent higher than the law allows.

The court said Woofter, when he decided to retire, relied on a wrong estimate by the state Public Employees Retirement System on what his monthly check would be.

The city of Las Vegas in 1992, in an effort to save money, offered its employees early retirement, agreeing to buy three years retirement credits. Woofter, who was earning $96,000 a year, contacted the retirement system to see how much he would receive each month.

He was informed the payments could range from $4,957 to $5,319 a month, but his ex-wife Sally was entitled to 29.9 percent of the benefit. Woofter chose the option to receive $4,260 a month and took the city's buyout.

The retirement system then discovered it had made an error and said Woofter was entitled to $3,528. Woofter had already retired, but had not received his first check.

The Supreme Court said Woofter had detrimentally relied on the board's mistaken benefit and had decided to retire based on that amount. The system was therefore stopped from changing the benefit.

The retirement board also claimed Woofter would not be financially harmed if the pension was reduced because he landed a $60,000 a year job with Land Title plus commissions after his retirement.

The court said Woofter's wealth is irrelevant to this case.

Woofter held a number of positions over 18 years in Clark County, including district attorney, public defender, justice of the peace, North Las Vegas city attorney, Las Vegas city councilman and Las Vegas city attorney.