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Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Related Document
- This is the document that members of the Committee on Community Priorities will see Jan. 7. The Sun wanted to see how readers would vote, so these same options are available in the polls below. Each polls displays the number of votes that can be cast in that category.
- Committee on Community Priorities member voting packet (.pdf)
Polls
- Fees/Penalties/Taxes
- Resource/Staff/Program Reallocation or Reduction: Staffing/Resource Reductions
- Consolidation: Within County Operations
- Consolidation: With Other Municipalities/Agencies
- Legislative Issues
- Resource/Staff/Program Reallocation or Reduction: Departmental Efficiencies
- Technology
- Union-Related Issues/Salaries/Overtime
- Resource/Staff/Program Reallocation or Reduction: Satellite Offices
- UMC
- Outsourcing/Vendor/Lease Issues
- Resource/Staff/Program Reallocation or Reduction: Program/Service Reductions
- Other Issues – General Fund Departments
Clark County’s Committee on Community Priorities
- Assemblyman Morse Arberry Jr., interim president and CEO of the Las Vegas-Clark County Urban League
- Alex Dixon, director of planning and analysis for Paris Las Vegas, Bally’s and the Rio
- Keen Ellsworth, lawyer, business owner and member of the Las Vegas Planning Commission
- Michael Holloway, engineer and managing principal of Poggemeyer Design Group Inc.
- John Marchiano, lawyer, former city attorney for Henderson
- Dr. John Ruckdeschel, director and CEO of Nevada Cancer Institute
- William Stanley, director of organizing, International Union of Elevator Constructors
- Bobbette Bond, executive director of the Nevada Health Care Policy Group and director of public policy for the Culinary Health Fund
- Dr. Nancy Brune, director of Research and Policy at UNLV’s Institute for Security Studies
- Cornelius Eason, president of Priority Staffing USA and Urban Chamber of Commerce of Las Vegas board of directors
- Al Martinez, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1107
- David Peter, employee representative for Service Employees International Union Local 1107
- Roland Sansone, real estate developer and managing member of Sansone Companies
- George Togliatti, vice president of security, surveillance and safety at Mandalay Bay, former director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety
- Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association
Sun Coverage
- Clark County priorities panel meeting in Las Vegas (12-16-2009)
- ‘Longevity pay’ costs millions in county (12-10-2009)
- UMC’s financial condition spurs talk of sale (11-27-2009)
- Layoffs should hit poorly run departments, Collin says (10-4-2009)
- Experts to advice, provide cover, on cuts (8-30-2009)
- Shortfall looms large as fire union holds out (4-23-2009)
- No concessions yet from firefighters (4-12-2009)
Rory Reid
Steve Sisolak
After 40 hours of hearings to sort through Clark County’s budget woes, the key issue that emerged for most of the 15 carefully chosen community representatives was the high cost of county employees, particularly firefighters.
“The only way to truly cut costs in a general fund of $1.5 billion when the payroll (wages and benefits) is over $1.2 billion is to cut staff, hours, salaries and/or benefits,” the Committee on Community Priorities’ preliminary report says, adding: “The rise in employee compensation is unsustainable.”
Regarding firefighters, the committee noted that “$180,000 compensation (wages plus benefits) for the average (Fire Department) employee is outrageous, even outside this economic downturn.”
But that dollar figure has now been eclipsed.
County officials said Tuesday that the average salary and benefits package for firefighter union employees was $199,678 for the fiscal year that ended in July. The average salary alone was $128,026.
Given those figures, it’s easy to understand why the fire department gets the most mentions in the committee’s 177 recommendations for internal changes in county government, and 29 suggestions to address county-state issues.
The firefighters and their union were well known to the committee because of newspaper articles about how the union failed this year to offer salary concessions that met with county approval, said committee member Carole Vilardo, president of and lobbyist for the Nevada Taxpayers Association.
University Medical Center’s drain on county coffers is also a topic that has been reported on extensively for several years, so it also got a lot of attention from the committee.
Last fiscal year UMC lost about $70 million, and this year it’s expected to be worse. That’s because overhead costs are higher and because the county is mandated to cover expenses for patients who cannot pay.
So one recommendation is to find a way for the county to wash its hands of the hospital. Selling it is one suggestion. Others include creating a committee to oversee hospital efficiency and quality, and a review of management and hospital costs.
The committee’s list is to be shaped into a blueprint from which commissioners and county staff will work to address a $120 million deficit next year. The hope is that it will also produce fundamental changes in how some departments work.
Committee members will prioritize their recommendations at a final meeting Jan. 7. They will also vote on which county services are the most valuable, noting whether services should continue or be reduced.
In effect, committee volunteers are providing political cover for county commissioners and doing the county’s departmental managers’ jobs for them. Around midyear, County Manager Virginia Valentine asked department heads to suggest cuts amounting to 5 percent of their budgets. Instead, the average cut submitted among all departments was only 2.6 percent.
Many of those same department chiefs attended the committee’s half-day meetings, during which the county’s assistant managers presented information about each department. Department chiefs responded when asked for more information.
Committee member Alex Dixon said the group’s eight meetings since August provided a crash course in how local government works, and he was surprised by what he learned.
One of the most important revelations, he said, came when questions were asked about county salaries.
It highlighted the need for county commissioners to be good stewards of the public coffers.
Dixon, director of planning and analysis for Paris Las Vegas, Bally’s and the Rio, said even if county staff wants to change merit pay or longevity pay or any kind of benefit program, nothing will even be attempted without the say-so of elected commissioners.
“Management is handicapped by the goals or willingness of the county commissioners,” Dixon said. The county’s staff works specifically to meet the goals of commissioners. So if commissioners don’t want to limit union workers’ pay, county staff won’t even ask for limitations during contract negotiations.
“It’s not that firefighters or police or whomever don’t deserve it, it’s just that we have to reset expectations,” Dixon also said. “We cannot provide the same pay that we did two or three years ago.”
Some across-the-board suggestions for salaries and benefits included eliminating or reducing longevity pay and employees’ selling of sick-leave hours back to the county; adjusting cost-of-living wage increases to a local, not national, index; and fighting for changes in union contracts that allow the county to reduce pay under “extreme financial deficits.”
Dixon also criticized the current merit-pay system for county service employees, saying the system “doesn’t make sense.” It gives employees 4 percent raises for jobs well done or nothing for not-so-good. There is no in-between. Dixon would like to see merit distributed on a bell curve — 10 percent of employees would get 4 percent raises, 10 percent would get nothing, and the rest would get somewhere in between.
Other recommendations and comments ran the gamut, from suggesting charging parents for probation services to consolidating assessor’s office services into one place. They included:
• Consolidating information technology staff between departments.
• Consolidating municipal courts in Henderson, North Las Vegas and other outlying areas.
• Outsourcing phone systems.
• Increasing document fees in the Recorder’s Office.
• Getting the Legislature to change the way the property tax cap works.
• Raising license fees.
The committee also offered some possible general guiding principles, such as: “The investment in our parks goes to the soul of the community.”
Another is: “Children must never be compromised in the budgeting process. It is cheaper to correct the problem in their youth than incarcerate them as adults.”
Dixon, who said his salary had been cut because of the bad economy, added that he knows the importance of the social safety net that some county departments provide. But he said he sat through committee meetings wondering how such services would be maintained if salaries keep rising.
“The further you peel back the layers, you get to the point where you’re saying, ‘We’re going to be cutting social services in order to uphold 6.5 percent increases in wages?’ ” Dixon said. “It was very eye-opening.”
Dixon, whose parents worked in the public sector, said he comes away from the committee hearings convinced that if the county’s employee compensation issues aren’t addressed, “we’re going to be back here doing this same thing in three years.
The concern is that this will wind up being yet another task force that does its work only to have its recommendations shelved.
Rory Reid, county commission chairman and a gubernatorial candidate, said that won’t happen in this case.
“The work they did is going to be seriously considered,” he said. “They came up with suggestions and we need to follow up and identify where money is to be saved and where efficiencies can be gained. And we should do it, for no other reason than for making the county more fiscally responsible.”
Commissioner Steve Sisolak agrees.
“I know how hard this group worked. I went to or watched every meeting,” he said. “Most of them didn’t have to think about allegiances or loyalties; they thought for the good of the county. And if we don’t take advantage of their willingness to do all this work, we will be making a huge mistake.”
"By dwms" What about the 280% increase in Clark County murdered children? Why is the committee concentrating on juvenile crime? Juvenile crime stems from the children court ordered into a violent environment where they see crime as a lifestyle. Why didn't the panel address the problem, not the symptoms of the problem? "
ANSWER dwms"Emvance" look at home first the County and the State of Nevada are not the parents of your children ..... You need to to to teach them the right and wrongs in this world...... So when OR "if" they go in front of the Courts they are not to blame ......THE TEACHER IS.
emvance,
When the county removes a child from a home, they essentially become the "parent". They do this in some cases because the parents are criminals and in some cases for not any good reason.
If they are placed in foster care by the county, the county is still their "parent".
Therefore, you must blame the county as "parent" since they did not teach them right from wrong, they placed them in an environment that taught them to lie, cheat, steal etc....
next time read the article and the comments before making your comment.
geezelouise. DWMS aka "You're Right" makes the same comments incessantly on every story in this paper and the RJ twisting any story that even remotely mentions the county to this topic. Makes you wonder what his/her kids are doing. This poster has an agenda. emvance was right to criticize.
That being said the Bobs have spoken. Time to start cutting jobs and balancing the budget.
Where do I sign up to be a firefighter? I'll do it for a $100k package and save the district money. Dont get me wrong - I truly support each and everyone of you and the job you do, but in these times, its time to be real about earnings OR, time to look at the over-all cost picture..Its time to cut some benefits during these times - we all have had it happen and we hate it, but we are at the point of loosing our city..
GOVERNMENT - you can do better also - Put your money where your mouth is and REDUCE YOUR PAY AND BENEFITS ALSO
For anyone who has not yet figured it out, dwms makes comments that are identical to a woman who always rants during public comment at the County Commission meetings. The woman's name is DeAnne Weisner and she seems to have some unhealthy obsession with the County.
Firefighters are as greedy as everyone else, public servants shouldn't make that amount of money. The joke is on us taxpayers. P.S.- Firefighters aren't heros as they want us to believe. Soldiers are true heros, look at what they do for us and for terrible pay!
dwms
I understand your position. You make it nauseatingly clear every day. The plain and simple fact is that some people shouldn't be having children. If you live in an apartment, you can't afford children. If your primary source of transportation is "Schwinn" or "CAT" you can't afford children. If you can't afford healthcare insurance, you can't afford children. There is a certain point at which personal responsibility kicks in. The county is not your sugar mama. Get over it.
"County officials said Tuesday that the average salary and benefits package for firefighter union employees was $199,678 for the fiscal year that ended in July. The average salary alone was $128,026"
Show me one FF who is worth $200k a year. Please....$4k a week ? Must be nice . The FF's sure pulled a fast one on somebody .
desert_eagle...I was just talking to someone about this article, and their point was that firefighters risk their lives and deserve the pay. I read your comment to her and she changed her tune.
Again, I'm sure these guys do a great job, but it's not like there's no demand for the job. They're turning people away. Basic economics would suggest that we can reduce the pay. People have stated that these contracts were negotiated years ago, when private sector employees were making twice that, but I can't think of a private sector job that compares to what most firefighters do.
I personally think the firefighters pay should be reduced dramatically (at least for now) and teachers' pay should be increased. For them to refuse to do this is really a slap in the face to everyone else that's suffered in this economy.
Randy: Good call on outing DWMS.
TOTALLY AGREE WITH DESERT EAGLE AND IMPROVE LV..
We ask soldiers to DIE for us, and yet their Living Conditions (barracks) are the worst in the world (Ever see Camp Pendleton?) as well as their pay...THEY if ANYONE should earn the FF pay...A firefighter will leave a building and let it burn if it cant control it or if it is unsafe..Show me one soldier who goes into a fight and then retreats?? All for what - $20k a year??
Lay off 1000 police, close the vice department, no more pot prostitution busts
Why does the city need to employ plumbers, carpenters, landscapers, doctors, nurses? Send out bids for private sector companies to provide that service for you. That should save some coin without sacrificing operations.
There are smart ways to run governments and expensive ways. So far, Nevada keeps finding the most expensive ways to operate.
I sure am glad we now have Steve Sisolak on the commission. He will not let this get swept under the rug like the others will. Believe me the others wouldnt do anything but the status quo.
MRED:
its called "Re-allocation of resources"..hahaha what they focus on for busts and what they SHOULD focus on for busts are 2 different things..they spend huge resources going after the little things on a daily basis, while ignoring the BIG things..
PATRICK GIBBONS:
Totally agree..The private sector can handle it better - for less. They (Gov't) always complain they dont have enough staff for any of the jobs. With the private sector operating all the services, they could get more people to work for the same or less budget than what they (Govt) have to spend now. Let the business man run it LIKE A BUSINESS and not a bottomless pit like it is now..Gee, if you had 12 plumbing companies bidding on work for each job, and the winning bid gets the job, these 12 companies would employ more people, than the city gov't has for the same ($100k salary and benefit job)..think of how big our employment rolls would be? Problem 1 solved and for less money. BUT, you need to bid it to ALL companies and not just the Union Companies and the unions will need to accept the fact that they MAY loose a bid. Any contract bid that states "Only Union Companies allowed to bid" should be terminated AND they need to be "big boys" and NOT interefer with the poor non-union company that won the bid, by not blocking the work site, etc..I am NOT anti-union by any means, but capitalism should be just that - NOT the way some of these companies infere now.
This is the classic (predictable) knee-jerk reaction by our elected officials. Blame someone else for the problems. It is the Firefighters, Police and public employees causing all the problems. Even the citizens are being blamed for all the shortfalls of our government. Everyone other than those who have been in charge during this crisis.
In this list of changes everyone looses EXCEPT for those who have allowed this disaster to flourish.
Fire the employees....what a great idea, let's destabilize our economy and public services even more!
Let's destroy even more households in Las Vegas!
Cut Public services when they are needed the most!
Please note there are no proposals to cut the expenses of our elected and appointed officials. I'm not sure of what Rory gets, but the Henderson Mayor gets $1000.00 a month car expenses...
Let's start by cutting the pork off the Elected, Appointed, Contract, Professional and Managerial expense accounts before we continue destroying more of the economy by cutting services and employees.
Since Commissioner Reid has adopted a platform of Ethics and Transparency for his campaign for Governor. Let's see if he is willing to fulfill his promises now by publishing the Expense accounts of ALL Elected, Appointed, Contract, Professional and Managerial positions in the Clark County Government for the past 12 months.
Ethics begins with honesty and full disclosure...
"Public education -- where all is supposedly "for the children" -- has a dirty secret: Its real organizing principle is jobs for adults.
The Clark County School District employs one adult for every eight students. In Washoe County, it's one adult for every 7.2 students. And don't assume those adults are teachers: Fewer than one of three Clark County School District employees are classroom teachers.
No, district administrators always like to hire ... more administrators. That's one of the reasons why -- absent fundamental reform -- public education continues putting adults ahead of students."
http://npri.org/publications/financing-e...
Youngster,
Typically the private sector does the job for less money, in less time, with fewer workers. In some instances this occurs because the private sector tends to have better time-saving equipment. The private sector focuses on profits -- and time is money -- whereas the public sector tends to focus on employing as many people as possible regardless of the effectiveness or the cost.
Not to worry though, because the private sector can save you money on the front end, the government has more money to either A) provide for other services or B) return that money back to the people (tax rebates or keep taxes low to begin with).
Either way, that leaves money for more goods and services to be provided to the community. In the end more jobs can be provided by being efficient with tax dollars.
Let's be realistic the big money in government for the most part is not being made by the worker in the trenches, but by the administrators, managers, overseers,etc whether it be city hall, county commission fire or police or the school district. It is the so-called leaders or managers or administrators who have raped the public with their excessive and greedy money demands for personal enrichment and retirement benefits.
Those in the trenches that have really abused the system are firefighters and police; they have abused the system through their unions with overtime pay, vacation pay, benefits well above that of the average public employee. Now, that is abuse of the system and has be controlled by the state legislature and new laws limiting this baloney. For those in jobs such as police and firefighters if it is too dangerous, then seek employment in another job...someone will do it just as well and for without all the falderal about danger, health risks and being a hero 24/7.
In schools it is the administration that makes the big bucks, not the frontline classroom teacher with 150-200 students. They don't get much in the way of salary by comparison although there are more teachers than administrators in the system, hence teachers are a bigger, more noticeable budget item and the easiest to attack with budget cuts that look impressive to the uniformed average taxpayer.
Teachers don't get overtime pay, vacation pay and extensive health and life insurance benefits in comparison to administrators. Teachers are required to work whatever hours before, after or during school to complete any and all assigned work regardless, while administrators do not; teachers take homework home to grade, make minutely detailed lesson plans, complete student progress reports, call parents on their own time; administrators have the luxury of secretaries and assistants to divide their responsibilities to do the majority of their work filling out papers, writing reports, preparing attendance records, conferring with parents, etc.
There is no comparison of the work pressure, time requirements, stress, mental burdens and even physical danger by violent, or out of control students on teachers compared to the average administrator, especially those in luxurious offices in their headquarter suites.
Administrator contracted time is set in concrete as a standard 8 hour day job. Overtime pay is given to administrators for supervising school dances, attending school activities like dances, athletic games; for out of state fieldtrips on weekends they get overtime pay and per diem for meals while teachers organizing and leading the fieldtrips do it on their own time with no expenses for meals. So, who has the better, fatter deal in this system?
I know that they will never do it but....
They should privatize the fire departments....Las Vegas, NLV, Henderson and the County.
Split it into 6 to 8 districts.
One contract per district.
No two contracts end the in the same year.
One company can't hold more than 2 contracts at a time.
The ambulance service is privatized.
The big dream...that also will never happen...is just do vouchers for schools......They even can do this......I think they spend around $8,000 to $10,000 per student.
If a parent wants to do a voucher instead of sending their children to the failed public system then half the money goes with the child and the other half stays with the school system. The school system gets money and no operational unit cost that goes with the child.
I keep dreaming.......the unions will not let either one happen. The Democrats are in the pocket of the unions. The people do not have the motivation or will to overcome the unions.
We are screwed.................
"The only way to truly cut costs in a general fund of $1.5 billion when the payroll (wages and benefits) is over $1.2 billion is to cut staff, hours, salaries and/or benefits,"
--------------------
Do you think the Unions care NO
If the CCSD agrees to a contract with its own police dept. that is on par in pay with Metro the district is in real trouble financially; we cannot afford to pay the same rate and with overtime pay like Metro. It will bury the district and destroy whatever is left of the education system here.
District police may soon engage in scare tactics to frighten and encourage the trustees to comply with their contract demands; announcing increase in on campus gang activity is one tactic that has worked well in the past, announcing the need to increase security at after school activities is always good as a ploy to insure parents demand more police presence.
Current trustees behave as though they are weak, spineless and lack any common sense and could be gullible enough to fall for any such moves. Trustees may be much more willing to pay campus cops with a GED much higher salaries and greater benefits they are willing to pay a fully licensed classroom teacher with a masters plus 30 additional graduate course hours. How will this benefits all students of this district in the long run? Where are their priorities when it comes to education and not just looking good to the public and covering their backsides?
The only way to avoid such a damning future financial snare with its current police department is to either: (1) eliminate it entirely and put security for schools out for bid from private firms that specialize in such duties such as, Wackenhut; or (2) let it be the full time duty of Metro.
Pat and Youngster,
Very nice to hear the ideas of clear thinkers.
I agree, the private sector can do it much cheaper. I was looking at the salaries of firefighters online and just about lost it. I know that they put there life on the line but it is certainly not everyday or even most days. In addition to paying taxes you still get charged an additional fee when they do go out and help you.
Break up the unions and the city needs to not give away such expensive benefits plans and overtime need to be controlled.
Lets not forget that the government has none essential programs that suck money. In addition the state could get into some additional trouble when federal money dries up.
It would also be nice if Nevada wasn't as much of a Donor State to the Federal Government. The state loses 45% of its federal taxes to support over federally funded programs in other states. We rank 49 out of 50 in the country.
Privatization of your public safety is not the way to go. Yes the ambulance service in most area's of the valley privatized, but AMR has a long history that if they don't make any money in that city, they up and leave over night and leave the community hanging for medical services.
The question that should be asked is why do we have different police and fire services. Why not one metropolitan department that are bound by no lines. Why 5 separate fire chief's? 3 police chiefs and a sheriff? Really?? Why do we send an engine, rescue and private ambulance to 1 call. Why don't we get the closest response for a medical emergency? It is crazy and no one wants to sit down and discuss these items because of ego's
LVFD has it in their contract that each person on the ambulance gets a "documentation fee that $30 goes to the medic and $20 to his emt partner for every patient they transport. I thought that paperwork was a part of the job. So if you take their OT away, LVFD will transport more patients to make up for it!
The OT problem with all the departments is out of control, but don't blame the FF's. The chief's all have response times that they have to meet and the council expects. The chief's tell them what they need to meet them. If they are not allowed to hire extra people to cut back the OT, if you have 4 seats that need to be filled and 3 are off, you're only option is OT to keep that unit in service.
Look at some of the other fluff that is out there. LVFD is the only department that runs with aids for their battalion chief's that are captains? Why not put them back to work on the engines? I am sure they won't mind to stop driving the BC's around and doing all their paperwork for them.
Overtime to bring all ranks in for training? Can't they do it on duty? Again, here we have 3 separate training centers all doing the same stuff. This all needs to get combined so that everyone is on the same page!
And the last thing with the FD and their OT. Maybe they should not put up with the games that some of these individuals play. To state that all FF's are greedy is not correct, but the pork in all the contracts allows for individuals to play the OT game and collect bank! Yes, the day is coming that emergency units are going to be shut down and that is a sad day. The people that loose are the public. The system has been allowed to exist for so long the only way to reset is to go completely out of the box with new staffing programs, training requirements, response guidelines and public expectations.
"vc" I agree with you completely. Other studiest might have been swept under the rug, but from what I have seen of Commissioner Sisolak, I don't think that he is going to allow that to happen here. It will be interesting to see how this plys out.
Cut Channel 4 - The Clark County Channel.
Have you watched it? Terrible.
Serves no purpose - and WE pay for it.
JR,
It would be better if the Federal government didn't tell states how to spend the taxpayers money to begin with. I can't find any provision in the US constitution that says the Federal government can give Nevada $50 million if Nevada has 55mph speed limits on the highways...or any other law.
The Federal money is a drop in the bucket anyway. We might be better off ignoring Congress and forgoing the extra money.
*PS: Sometimes compliance with the Federal rules costs more than the money they give you up front.
Steven sisolak? The same sisolak that is endorsed by the firefighters union and every other union representing local government employees? That Steve sisolak?
You people are crazy if you think Steve sisolak is going to stand up to these unions. He may talk a good game now, but when it comes time to negotiate union contacts do you really think sisolak is going to create change? He's their Guy!
If you really want someone to stand up to the unions, put people in that don't have union support. Otherwise nothing will ever change.
If I were a politician planning on running for election or re-election the police and firemen would be the last group I woulD seek or want support from. I sincerely don't believe these two groups support the best candidates possible, or candidates that can do the best job for ALL of the people. The key word is "ALL". These and other groups are only seeking self-serving politicians who will do them the most good FIRST!
Pat,
Again, I do agree with you. The federal government has taken too much power. What many do not realize is that the country has a constitution that protects the nation as a whole and the right of people. The country has a division of states and the states have different laws and taxes and so on as long as they do not violate the constitution. The system is brilliant because we could vote to make changes in our city and state and if we could not and we really did not like what was happening, we could move to another state that still grants us US Constitutional protection and has taxes or regulations that we would rather have. The feds are grabbing too much power and are dissolving state laws and authority. If that happens, their will no where to run.
Back to federal money....
Look at the great deed Obama has done
America by expanding Cobra coverage and by expanding unemployment and welfare. He is setting up states like Nevada up for failure because fed money will not foot the bill and the states will be left to clean up the mess. Our state dishes out too much money to subsidize the federal government. And then you have state and city government workers can't even figure out how to balance the budget. Oscar Goodman is a great example of this by insisting that Las Vegas need a new city hall when there is nothing wrong with the old one (all in the name of job creation).
Government doesn't make money!!!!!
Your right, what BIG corruption case was handled by Metro? There usually fed cases. When that NBC guy did the story of "Vegas Vice", (two episodes) did the taxpayers get any royalties? A number of those busts were plea bargained down to nothing.
What did it do for the image of the area? When the counterfeiter said he had contacts at the casinos to to pass the bills made with grease remover, and a copy machine.
Any society which authorizes social-theft (taxation) deserves all the evils its corruption returns to them.
"Mankind is more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, then to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." - Thomas Jefferson
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Cromagnonman,
Maybe you are right, but Sisolak has stood up for the taxpayers since he has been in office. Some of the votes he has lost 6 to 1 but he stood up,
Let's wait and see what he does, but from his comments, it doesn;t appear that he is a rubber stamp for the government unions,
The average Firefighter's salary is $124k for a reason: overtime due to understaffing. During the Legislative Session I learned that the NV State Prison could reduce its operating costs by $2M and improve guard and inmate safety by hiring 450 guards. Imagine that, save money by hiring people...
The name of the game is Political Correctness in the face of plane as day common sense business decisions. Let's disect this.
1. "Last fiscal year UMC lost about $70 million, and this year it's expected to be worse. That's because overhead costs are higher and because the county is mandated to cover expenses for patients who cannot pay."
A.K.A. Illegal Immigrants, Social Wellfare recipients not supported by the State or Federal Government. What the article doesn't tell you is that the End of year fiscal position is actually a $100 million dollar loss.
Why are we following the same MO if we are losing money, and looking to lay off more employees who will wind up being a finanacial burden to our city such as this.
2. "Union" comes up 6 times in this article about the County's financial woes. Thank the SEIU for the 0 to 4% idea.
3. "In effect, committee volunteers are providing political cover for county commissioners and doing the county's departmental managers' jobs for them." - And Rory want's to be Governor when he can't handle the political pressure to be a County Commissioner. And why doesn't Rory want to cut UMC lose, could it possibly be because Daddy has a really big Health Care Reform Bill coming down the pike...Can you say conflict of interest.
4. Around midyear, County Manager Virginia Valentine asked department heads to suggest cuts amounting to 5 percent of their budgets. - More like Mis-Manager alright - the product of political correctness, and don't get me started on the appointment of Lawrence following Gates, you know I'm right.
5. Employee Compensation Cuts. Go ahead and cut, please, but first get rid of the dead weight around here, yes you read correctly around here. I'm one of the County employees, the 1 in 1 in 4 who actually do their job, as well as the job of the others who goof off all day. Ditch the uninion, trim the fat around here, burry political correctness way ou in the desert, and you'll not only see that the work gets done for less, but done right.
GOD BLESS AMERICA, and all of you..!
First things first, what will it take to get new, responsible contracts with the various unions representing county employees?
If nothing else, let's get some elected officials who will represent us instead of continuing the status quo.
Ideally there should be no unions for county (or any government) employees.
Look at the Committee members..do they represent you. CEO of Nevada Cancer Institute moved here 6 months ago, yeah he knows what the priorities are. Carole Vilardo, owned a business 25 years ago, yeah these people have the same problems we do!
Frankly I am amazed that this committee came to the conclusion it did given that 4 of the 15 members are directly connected to unions.
On the other hand, I see only 2 members who can be representives of county residents in general.
This group is heavily skewed towards government and union interests. The fact that it reached the conclusion it did shows just how blatantly out-of-control the situation really is. Even those who benefit from it are forced to admit the seriousness of it.
With the direction our economy is headed, how is it possible for our firefighters to make well over 100K a year? As a state employee we have to take one furlough day per month and our Governor is looking for another possible furlough day and or a 10% pay cut. You can check this out at www.transparentnevada.com click on currently tracking __________ public employees. It is amazing what some of these people make a year!
It is time for government to do what companies all over America are doing: Re examine starting salaries. Fifteen percent can easily be cut across the board. Since no one on the payroll will be affected, there is no one to complain.
While I agree some of the salaries are a bit "healthy", these people have also put in quite a number of service years (some up to and over 25 years).
Boy, a few years ago, the Private Sector was earning quite a bit more than those "government employees"! A grade checker making $98,000 working 6 days a week with overtime. I've been with the county for 12 years and never made close to that, and I have a Master's Degree! The public is too quick to point fingers. 80% of the employees, if asked, would gladly take a pay cut to align their salaries to pre-boom era days. The other 20% are firefighters. Firefighters deserve to make a decent living, however, they are really living high on the hog! If their union doesn't make a gallant effort to cut salaries, don't expect any give from the other unions to take the brunt of the blow! Employees with no work need to either be transferred to a different department in a lower classification or let go. If there is no work, then there is no work. Between the County's Manager, CFO, COO and Dir of Aviation, your looking at over $1,000,000 in salary. Traffic at the airport has decreased, the economy is in a downward spiral and these people are making 4X EACH the salary I am making. Management keeps Managers who are appeasers, not the Managers who tell it like it is. It's either go along with us management or your out. This is were cronyism rears its ugly head. Our unions are partly to blame as well. Do they not understand the current economic situation? Get Real! So before you (the General Public) throw your fellow Americans into the street because you want to see other people lose their jobs or because we work for the local government, keep in mind that the majority of employees just want to survive like everybody else and will gladly do their part in assisting the county to balance their budget. The newspaper is at fault as well by telling a one sided story on how the employees are greedy and the County is broke. If that isn't enough to get the Public to get on the employees, then what is?
Dear WOXOF:
You have a Masters Degree? It obviously is not in English.
Unlike you, I don't see the paper going after the general rank and file government employee. Story after story is about police and fire department salaries.
When thousands of people apply for only a few jobs, the jobs pay too much. It's time to lower the starting salaries.
This should not take union approval. If no one is in the position, then no one is yet in the union.
"general fund of $1.5 billion when the payroll (wages and benefits) is over $1.2 billion"
If I ran my business that far out of balance I would have been toast a long time ago. Your average business is 50/50 salaries and supplies (other).
Maybe thats why they can't afford thing like books for classrooms, asphalt for streets or a decent highway to any neighboring state.
I understand why they cry broke, they are - they spent it all on salaries! what a joke!
This paper should go after all govt. employees, but I guess fire and police depts. are easy targets because the firemen always show up at Starbucks and the police likewise do the same at McDonald's. It's hard for me to think of firefighters as heroes when they demand that kind of money--they certainly don't seem to care about the public welfare.
If we had more like Steve Sisolak LV would way better off, great job Steve!
I know a number of State employees that have 30 plus years vested, believe me they make under 80K a year!
What makes the public think the Fire Dept is over paid ?
Danny Ganier FIRE BATT CHF $643,511.82 2008 Clark County
Floyd Walch FIRE CAPTAIN $535,754.46 2008 Clark County
Kevin Chapman DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF $392,563.79 2008 Clark County
Gary Dudley FIRE FIGHTER II (J) $388,271.15 2008 Clark County
Steven La Sky FIRE FIGHTER II $366,692.57 2008 Clark County
Gina Geldbach Hall FIRE BATT CHF $333,430.86 2008 Clark County
Check it out at www.transparentnevada.com
I have seen many posts by DWMS and I understand that there is an agenda there. Most of us have an agenda of some kind or another. It sounds to me like there are verifiable issues, and it concerns me that those issues aren't being resolved.
This article has had the most informative comments I have read in a long time.
I really do believe that our citzenry would make much better lawmakers then those career politicians, and I wish more ordinary people would run for office instead of all the people with so much owed to so many that they no longer seem to pay attention to the needs of the people.
Bla..Bla...Bla....talk is SO CHEAP !! This is SO outrageous..I can't even imagine why they haven't gotten around to this earlier. BUT !...actions speak louder than words. I'll believe it when I see it.But waving a "few" salary cuts in our face will NEVER do it...This county needs REAL DEEP cuts in positions, immediate salary freezes, ALL positions frozen. NO promotions..NONE! Cut salaries and positions from the TOP. There is no reality in any of this..none !!
An average of $199,000!?!?!?!? That is utterly absurd. Weren't these guys up in arms about not getting a full raise? Time for the bell to toll on this sham. Dont get me wrong, we all love firefighters, but $200K is absolutely amazing. No wonder these guys have ZERO humility. Sorry firefighters but the PF plates on $60K cars have to stop.
Firefighters need to walk in our shoes for a year or two!
As a State employee our salaries start at under 30K per year with a furlough day per month and possibly another furlough day and or a 10% pay cut coming! We put our lives on the line everyday as well.
Typical liberal solution..lets raise taxes and fees on services instead of forcing unions into taking salary concessions. The amount of money our fire fighters are making is absolutely absurd.. the least they could do is give up some overtime.
Many of you do have valid ideas and concerns...BUT
Privatization? We do privatize a lot of our services where I work already when it is deemed to save money. Many times though it doesn't make sense. When I call for an "outside" contractor (an approved provider with employees that pass background checks/drug tested) to cover work usually done by our staff, it is about 3-4 times the cost due to emergency service and they MAYBE will come out today address the problem. My staff member on "call-out" is far cheaper, and I don't worry about him walking off with computers, etc. and will arrive within minutes sometimes. It seems many of you don't even know how budgets work and all of the guidelines we have to follow...and WE didn't create the guidelines!
I find it so comical that during the "fat times" there were people I ran into that I thought that would have made a good member of my team...they laughed their heads off when they found out the pay. "Are you kidding?" "With my OT, I am making 150k a year". And I would say, "when this gravy train comes to a screeching halt (and they ALWAYS DO), how much will you be making then?" I usually didn't get an answer to that one.
I, myself traded high wages for some security at my government position...I left California in the mid 80's making 60k, taking my present local government job back then at 26k a year BUT 4 day work weeks, 12 1/2 holidays off, paid vacation and sick time, health and retirement, on and on made it worthwhile.
Not a betting person, but I would bet that some of the irate posters here are the same ones that couldn't get on with the local government or a FIRE DEPARTMENT because they couldn't make the cut.
No, I didn't know anybody...I'm not related to someone... I don't belong to the "correct church"...I applied for my position cold turkey and made it because I prepared, plain and simple.
As a county employee, I voted to not receive the COLA increase (roughly .35 cents per hour increase based on my current pay of $23.00 hr). My hope was voting for this would mean we could keep our jobs. While I am grateful for my current rate of pay and that I have a job, how much pay will I have to lose to satisfy the public? There are plenty of county employees with Bachelor's or Master's degrees earning less than $55,000 a year and are not getting rich from the county payroll.
"What makes the public think the Fire Dept is over paid ?
Check it out at www.transparentnevada.com"
I notice transparent.com did not include the years of service.
If we're going to source quote, let's make sure it's an accurate quote and source so that we don't look silly. While they gave salary history, they didn't give years of service history...
With all of this talk of cutting pay for county employees do you really think that the services that they render to the community will get any better.. Can the employees that work for each department do each others jobs.. I will say that these wages for some employees are out of line.. I would say that does any department actually get paid for what they actually do.. I wonder what would happen if for a period of time that city,county employees get paid for what they actually do..Would there be some kind of way then to cut back on the person that does more work at the watercooler than the person that actually does there job.. Its kinda of like like getting paid for whatyou actually do..All starting at the top and on down to the bottom of any paying job..How about judges ,, I think they dont spend enough time in the court as they should and maintenance workers should be doing whatever they do and not have 5 people on the job with 4 chiefs and 1 indian.. What would actually happen if they got paid for what they actually do while at work... Probably alot more than what is getting done now...But then again there are always the people that find a way to do nothing and have everyone believe they are doing everything.. Not that R. Ried fits in that catagory but look at UMC and how long is that going to go on... Yea as long as you have that one idiot leading the village then you get what you got..NOTHING....
(To dwms} (From) emvance let explain my comment to you a child brain and and good and bod habits all start at the the years of 3 to 7 years. I am 62 years old I have 5 Boys 3 girls. My father is a was a FBI agent kill on April 9th 1965. He thought me that men open doors for women it is yes yes sir no sir no mama yes mama , when a women walks in a room all men stand... at the very young age you teach them the right and wrong, after that in life you can not give them a strong standing of respect of all people, what ever color and age, this is what I meant it is the parents fault to raises there children and Not Clark county.... on Nov 15 1983 I had a very small construction company, I was doing a home inspection on the roof weak spot feel throw three story's broke very bone in my body, I believe if it was not they my father my wife and myself my children would not had com to my rescue, ..... Sorry if I had made you so mad but I just wanted to give you more info on where I was coming from. Teach your and watch your children and the state will not be there Parent!
As a valley firefighter, I think we should shut down fire stations, brown out units, and cut all department services.. You need to know all your facts before you speak. The salaries ( average 199,000?, not me ).. We work 2,900 hrs. a year and thats without overtime... Your average 9-5 employee works 2,080 hrs. a year. So let the cuts start, call 911 and expect delays in sevice . The fact is, we will all need to learn to live with less, including our SAFETY!!
God Bess and I wish you all a safe 2010!!!!