Report: Nevada public employees among highest paid in country

By Kyle B. Hansen

Published Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 | 3:16 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 | 6:24 p.m.

Nevada public employees are among the highest paid in the nation, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

According to the report, when compared to employees in the other 49 states, public employees in Nevada are the sixth-highest paid, a jump from the No. 8 spot in June 2008.

State and local workers combined have an average wage of $55,700, which is, according to the report, 114 percent of the national average of $48,800.

State workers have an average annual salary of $55,266, which is 107 percent of the national average, while local government employees make an average of $55,786, which is 117 percent of the national average, the report says.

The report was compiled for the chamber by Las Vegas-based Applied Analysis from 2008 U.S. Census Bureau data.

The report also found that Nevada ranks last in the nation in the number of state and local government employees per 1,000 residents.

In 2008, the state had 43.7 government employees per 1,000 people. The U.S. average is 54.8, the report says.

The chamber is using the report as ammunition for its fight to rein in government employee compensation.

“It makes absolutely no sense for taxpayers to continue to pay public employees far above the national average, particularly during these tough economic times, while services to our community have been cut,” Steve Hill, who chairs the chamber’s task force on government employee pay, said in a statement. “Our current path is not sustainable and is simply not rational public policy.”

The report notes that not all public employees in the state are highly compensated when compared to other states.

Elementary, secondary and higher education teachers in Nevada are paid less than the national average, with K-12 teachers making 95.4 percent of the national average of their colleagues.

Air transportation workers and social insurance administration employees in the state also came in below the national averages.

The report did not adjust the wages to reflect the cost of living in different states.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated Nevada’s median family income to be $65,124 in 2008, while the national median was $63,211.

Firefighters led the list of employees who make more than the national average, with Nevada firefighters making an average of $100,201, more than 150 percent of the national average of $65,949.

Union officials say the higher pay is the result of overtime because Nevada fire departments have failed to hire enough firefighters to keep up with growth.

Dean Fletcher, president of Las Vegas’ firefighter union, said many firefighters are required to work heavy overtime because the city has not hired enough firefighters to fully staff the department.

Last year, Las Vegas firefighters worked 288,000 hours of overtime, Fletcher said. It would take an additional 120 firefighters to avoid those overtime hours, he said.

“If you’ve stopped promotions, which the city of Las Vegas has, and you stop the academy, the only way you’re going to have a fully-staffed fire department is for us to work overtime,” Fletcher said.