Nevada ranks low in public employees

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003 | 11:37 a.m.

Nevada is second to last in the number of public employees per 10,000 people in the state, a new census report says.

Nevada had the equivalent of 465 full-time public employees per 10,000 people last year, compared with the national average of 554 per 10,000, the census said.

Only Pennsylvania was lower, at 451 public employees per 10,000. Wyoming led the nation with 833.

The census report, which measured state and local public employment in 2002, comes after the contentious debate in the Legislature this year over the state's budget and the size of government.

The findings did not surprise lawmakers such as Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, who questioned whether the raw numbers can help Nevada address certain issues without being further studied.

"These numbers don't surprise me because we are a conservative state with small government," Hettrick said.

"But I am not so sure we can use these num-bers to reach any definitive conclusions. We need to dig deeper because Nevada also is unusual in that it has two counties that have 90 percent of the population and so much of the state that has little or no population to service."

Driving Nevada's ranking were numbers far be-low the national average in education and health.

The health and education categories account for 230 public employees per 10,000 people in Nevada compared with 326 nationally.

As for health, Hettrick said the statistics don't say whether the problem of fewer public employees is because the industry cannot find people willing to come to Nevada or whether the industry is not hiring.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, called the latest statistics "striking but not surprising."

"The figures support what we have long been saying about Nevada operating on a shoestring," Titus said. "We are at the bottom of provision of rvices.

"Nevadans are at a crossroad. We have to make a decision about whether we want to con-tinue to operate like a Third World nation or improve services such as in the much needed areas of education and health care."

While there were serious shortfalls in teachers, healthcare workers and hospital employees, Nevada was slightly above aver-age in public safety workers, central government and financial administration employees and parks and recreation workers.

Many other categories such as natural resources, solid waste management, libraries, social services administrators, housing and commercial development were on par with national statistics, the report says.

In the most glaring shortfall, there were 213 public educators per 10,000 people in Nevada compared with the national average of 292.

Nevada significantly trails the nation in elementary and secondary school educators and administrators, with 169 per 10,000 people, compared with 223 nationwide. Nevada has about the same percentage of children under 18 as the national average.

"No this does not surprise me -- it's old news -- what we've been saying for three years now," Clark County Schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia said. "When we say things like this people respond that we are ex-aggerating, saying the sky is falling. But survey after survey supports what we say. Hopefully our lawmakers will look at these census findings, which is an unbiased survey and do something about it."

At the higher education level, Nevada has 44 instructors and other workers per 10,000 compared to the nationwide totals of 65.

Among health care and hospital workers, Nevada has 18 public employees per 10,000 people compared with 34 per 10,000 nationally.

Another area where there is a significant shortfall is transit, where Nevada has 1.19 workers per 10,000 people compared to the national average of 8.22.

But Southern Nevada's public bus system, Citizens Area Transit -- by far the largest in the state with 51 million rides per year -- was privatized in December 1992.

"Our drivers are not public employees," Regional Transportation System spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman said. "That does not mean the public is being shortchanged. It means the drivers can provide more service to taxpayers for the same cost, as they are held to higher standards because they work for a private company."

Another category in which Nevada trails the nation slightly is street and highway workers, with 16 per 10,000 people compared to the national average of 19, the census says.

In public safety, the census shows that police, firefighters and correction officers in Nevada number 73 per 10,000 people, compared with the national average of 67 per 10,000.

In parks and recreational activities, Nevada has 15 public employees per 10,000 people compared to the national average of nine.

In Nevada the central administration and financial administration workers account for 26 public employees per 10,000 people compared to 23 per 10,000 nationally.