Friday, Oct. 11, 2002 | 10:55 a.m.
Two Henderson municipal court judges are suing the city for wage increases that according to a city analysis would more than double their salaries by 2011.
Municipal Court Judges Kenneth Proctor and John Provost on Oct. 4 filed a lawsuit in Clark County District Court arguing that according to city ordinances they should be paid an average annual increase of 8 1/2 percent, which some city administrative and managerial employees earn.
At that rate, the municipal judges' salaries would jump from the $102,000 they received last year to $224,000 by 2011, the city says. The wages would be possible because unlike city hall jobs which have ranges to cap pay, the judges have no such limits. Instead, their wages are set by a vote of the City Council.
"The judges' interpretation of the ordinance is self-serving, contrary to the City Council's intent and frankly, disingenuous," said Ron Sailon, assistant city attorney.
Provost referred a phone call to his Las Vegas attorney Tom Pitaro. Pitaro did not return calls Thursday.
Provost and Proctor base their case on municipal code that directs salaries of municipal judges to be "adjusted upward annually by the average percentage increase awarded to all administrative and managerial city employees."
City officials argue that the ordinance refers only to cost-of-living increases, which last year paid out at 3.5 percent. The city amended the ordinance Oct. 1, three days before the judges filed their lawsuit, to clarify that point.
The law was last changed in 2001 to benefit Provost and Proctor. Before the change they received cost-of-living increases based on the Consumer Price Index, as do other elected officials. In recent years, the CPI has paid less than cost-of-living increases set for administrative employees. In the same 2001 vote that the Henderson City Council approved the cost-of-living boost for the judges, it also upped the salaries of Provost and Proctor by 27 percent, from $78,000 to $99,000.
That same fiscal year, the two judges missed a combined total of 91 days, working an average of three days a week, rather than the usual four days, according to city records. The city, meanwhile, paid another $17,000 for substitute judges.
The two judges interpret the law differently. In addition to the annual 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase, they say they should be paid the equivalent of a 5 percent merit increase.
A 5 percent merit increase is the maximum a supervisor can award an individual employee. But there is no indication from pay records, Sailon said, that every administrative and managerial employee averages the the maximum 5 percent merit increase each year.
The city has 45 days to file a response to the lawsuit. The city plans to hire a law firm to represent it, Sailon said.
archive
