Editorial: Get with the times on salaries

Friday, Feb. 28, 2003 | 9:21 a.m.

The Legislature is attempting to modernize a 139-year-old provision in the Nevada Constitution that gives the state power to set salaries for county elected officials. We would like to see this change, which would avoid situations such as we have now with the newly elected Clark County sheriff and district attorney. When Bill Young was a deputy sheriff, he was making $128,000. After being elected sheriff, with responsibility over the deputy sheriffs and the other 4,000-plus employees of Metro Police, his salary dropped to $82,000. David Roger, as a deputy district attorney, was making $127,000. After being elected district attorney, his salary dropped to $100,000.

With the Legislature in charge, salaries for those offices have been at a virtual standstill since 1995. There are bills in the Legislature this session to boost their salaries to $134,000 and $155,744 respectively. We support those bills, as it's only fair for the salaries of top elected officials to be commensurate with their responsibilities. If the bills fail, the salaries will be frozen for another two years at least, making the disparity even more illogical.

Legislative bills, which are always late and steeped in controversy, are not the long-term answer. A resolution passed by both houses of the Legislature last session would enable the boards of county commissioners to decide compensation for themselves and other county elected officials, including sheriffs and district attorneys. Changes in the state Constitution require approvals from two consecutive sessions of the Legislature, followed by voter approval in the next general election. We strongly disagree with wording in the resolution that could lead to those offices being appointive instead of elective. But the state's grip on the salaries of county elected officials, which dates back to Nevada's Constitutional Convention in 1864, should end.

Clark County employees are now contrasting their own proposed raises with those proposed for the top officials -- a superficial tactic. If the county had control, elected officials wouldn't be in this position because their raises would be managed gradually, just like those for employees.