County union contract put above raises

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003 | 9:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Some Assembly Democrats told Clark County officials Monday that if they want raises for their elected officers, they had better settle a contract for 10,000 union workers.

Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-North Las Vegas, said he thought it was "arrogant and inconsiderate to even debate this in Clark County when those employees don't have a contract."

Assembly Bill 66 would increase salaries for commissioners and all other elected county officials in Nevada's 17 counties. In Clark County, the pay for commissioners would go from $54,000 to $80,558, while the salaries for the clerk, assessor, recorder, treasurer and public administrator would go from $72,000 to $115,584 each. The sheriff's pay would increase from $84,000 to $134,262 and the district attorney's salary from $100,800 to $155,744.

Clark County and the local Service Employees International Union are at an impasse, after the union balked at County Manager Thom Reilly's request for a third-party fact-finder to examine the contract offers.

About 10,000 Clark County employees and University Medical Center physicians have been working without a contract since July 1, 2002.

SEIU members crowded a hearing room in Las Vegas to watch the hearing via teleconference while officials from northern and rural counties packed the hearing room in Carson City.

Lobbyists for the Nevada Association of Counties said the increases are needed because county elected officials have not had a raise in eight years. A measure to increase salaries in 2001 died in the Senate in the closing minutes of the Legislature when lawmakers ran out of time.

"This bill is not going anywhere right now," Assembly Government Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, said.

The committee submitted a bill draft request Monday -- the last day such a move was permitted -- to amend the state Constitution and allow counties to set their own salaries. Only the Legislature can set the salaries for county elected officials.

Robert Hadfield, executive director of the county association, urged the committee to support pay raises this year even as the six-year process to amend the constitution proceeds.

"We are out of sync and we are more out of sync than ever before," Hadfield said.

But Assemblyman Tom Collins, D-North Las Vegas, said the county's union workers should not be held responsible for policy decisions the commission has made, particularly ones that involved cost overruns at the Regional Justice Center project and University Medical Center's growing deficit.

"I think we should delete the Clark County Commission from this bill and pass the rest of it," Collins said.

Later, when SEIU representative Katie Hughes-Appel said she would support Collins' proposal, the crowd of purple-shirted workers in Las Vegas all clapped.

Clark County Assessor Mark Schofield, testifying from Las Vegas, encouraged support for his "union brethren."

"We, as the administrative elected officials -- those who do not set policy -- do not negotiate their salaries," Schofield said.

Clark County lobbyist Dan Musgrove said the two sides are at an impasse over the proposed cost-of-living adjustments and issues regarding subcontractors.

The county has offered 2 percent COLA increases in each of four years for county workers and no COLA increases for the UMC physicians. SEIU wants 3.78 percent COLA for county workers and 2.78 for UMC physicians, Musgrove said.

Collins, an electrical contractor, said he has been involved in numerous collective bargaining negotiations in which the two sides seemed miles apart.

"When the need arises, that contract got settled," Collins said.

"Boom," added Williams, for emphasis.

After the hearing, Williams said he would support using the pay bill -- in any form -- "to get the employees the raise they deserve."

Manendo said all amendments are on the table -- including the constitutional amendment and deleting the Clark County commissioners' raises.

"The people I represent are going to sleep OK whether these people get their raises or not," Manendo said in an interview after the hearing.

Raises for district attorneys and sheriffs are contained in a separate Assembly bill. A separate Assembly resolution, AJR1, would amend the state Constitution to allow counties to set their own salaries. But AJR1 also eliminates the offices of public administrator and clerk.

Lobbyists for the county association told the Assembly committee that the Senate Government Affairs Committee supports the measure.

"That's a different house," Manendo said. "That's the Senate and this is the people's house. That's what makes the Legislature great."