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November 15, 2009

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Feeding Frenzy

By Jeff German (contact), Mike Trask (contact)

Sunday, April 15, 2007 | 8:27 a.m.

High salaries, huge amounts of paycheck fattening overtime and exceedingly generous pensions for public employees throughout Southern Nevada today consume hundreds of millions of tax dollars annually - and will be an even bigger drain on municipal budgets in the future.

Like today's salaries and overtime, tomorrow's pensions divert public dollars that otherwise would be available to pay for the basic programs and services expected of government.

And just as critics view the spiraling overtime costs - nearly $80 million last year alone - as proof of lax oversight by city and county managers, some see the soaring pension tab as an economic burden only worsening in the absence of any serious effort to control it.

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