Senate adds all elected officials to county pay-raise bill

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 9:03 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A controversial plan to give all county elective officials a pay raise starting next July cleared a hurdle in the Senate Thursday.

There has been debate in both the Senate and Assembly about whether every elective official, or just the district attorneys and sheriffs, should receive a salary boost.

By a vote of 12-9, the Senate adopted an amendment to Senate Bill 53 that covers all county elective officials who have not had a raise since 1995.

The amendment increases the annual pay for each Clark County commissioner to $71,820. They are currently paid $54,000 each. The Clark County district attorney would be paid $155,745 each year instead of $100,800, and the sheriff would get $134,263 annually instead of $84,000. The county clerk, assessor, recorder, treasurer and public administrator each would receive an annual salary of $95,760 instead of $72,000.

The Senate Government Affairs Committee voted 4-3 earlier this month to limit the pay increase to just district attorneys and sheriffs. But Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, offered the amendment on the floor. He said it is not a party or sectional issue, but about "what value you place on public service."

Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, planned to offer an amendment that would have given pay raises to all the elective officials except county commissioners. He said the commissioners "are part-time officials."

Care said there is nothing in the Nevada Constitution that said the Legislature should set the pay of the county commissioners. But the Senate voted for the Amodei amendment.

The Senate was expected to take a final vote on the bill today.