Marshals’ contract clarification goes before City Council

Sito Negron

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 9:36 a.m.

Las Vegas negotiators and the city's marshals have agreed to clarify a union contract that gives all officers a boost in pay, a move that could cost the city about $560,000 over the four-year contract period.

The contract must be ratified by the Las Vegas City Council.

An item calling for ratification of the contract clarification is on the agenda for Wednesday's Council meeting. The initial contract, calling for a boost in entry-level pay from $37,000 to about $42,000 a year, already has been agreed upon.

With the clarification, "we're agreeing to the intent of the contract," said Claudette Enus, the city's human resources director.

The contract negotiations were meant to give city marshals a pay scale similar to that of officers in other parts of the valley. While both sides agreed upon that aspect of the contract, the dispute was over how the pay raise was to be applied.

The marshals get annual cost-of-living increases as well as "steps," raises meant to reward officers for their experience. The Las Vegas Police Protective Association, negotiating for the marshals, wanted all officers to immediately get an increase similar to the jump in entry-level pay, but to also remain on their step schedule.

The city claimed the contract called for two steps to be taken from the bottom of the pay scale and added to the top, which meant some officers would not receive an instant pay boost, and some officers who have been with the city for three years would receive the same pay as entry-level officers.

The union threatened to ask the Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board to settle the matter, but if council ratifies the agreement Wednesday, that will be moot.

The deputy city marshals patrol more than 190 properties citywide, according to the city's description of the division. They provide law enforcement for city-sponsored events.

The city also describes marshals' duties as conducting "special operations aimed at reducing certain criminal activity in specific areas of the city, for example, traffic enforcement in neighborhoods, abatement of illegal solicitors at intersections and the removal of abandoned vehicles.

"The deputy city marshals also conduct security and safety evaluations requested by city departments at various facilities, buildings and workplaces," the city website states.