Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Economy:

North Las Vegas cuts four top positions to save money

North Las Vegas

North Las Vegas is consolidating some departments to reduce the number of top-paying positions and save money, Acting City Manager Maryann Ustick announced Tuesday.

Part of the plan is to buy out some of the city’s top-ranking employees and replace them with acting managers for less pay, Ustick said.

“These changes are expected to increase efficiency, save money and come as a result of ongoing budget cuts,” she said in a news release.

Employment changes were effective Monday, officials said. The plan cut the number of department directors from 16 to 12, city spokesman Juliet Casey said.

No estimate of how much money the city will save was available Tuesday night because the number was still being calculated, Casey said.

Police Chief Joseph Forti was paid $215,572 to leave his post; Finance Director Philip Stoeckinger was paid $103,685; Information Technology Director Steven Chapin was paid $106,641; and Economic Development Director Michael Majewski was paid $125,122.

Forti made $169,063 in regular earnings for 2009; Stoeckinger made $166,953; Chapin was paid $132,828; and Majewski was paid $158,606 in regular earnings last year.

Forti said the executive buyout plan came at a convenient time.

“I’ve just crossed a plateau of 30 years,” he said in mid-May. “I’ve been kind of thinking about leaving within the next six to seven months.”

“It just seemed like the kind of time to turn the reins over,” he said.

Forti’s duties as police chief will be filled by Assistant Police Chief Joesph Chronister, who started as an officer in the department in September 1989. Chronister, whose new title will be “acting police chief,” will be paid $175,292 annually, according to a release.

“If I didn’t think that there was someone here with the skill to take my place, I would not have left,” Forti said. “[Chronister] is a very, very capable man.”

Ustick chose current Assistant Director of Administrative Services Alfonso Noyola to become acting director of administrative services and finance. Noyola will replace Chapin and former General Services Director Brenda Fischer, who accepted a buyout earlier this year.

Noyola will make $147,356 a year.

Noyola made $133,952 in regular earnings in 2009, and Chronister made $165,338 in regular earnings last year.

The reason for the slight bump in pay is that they will now be serving as acting directors, Casey said.

Director of Planning and Zoning Frank Fiori will take over as director of community development. He will maintain his current role with the city, but the new position will have him take on Majewski’s responsibilities, too, officials said.

Fiori will also take on some of the responsibilities Senior Assistant to the City Manager in charge of the Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services Kenny Young used to fulfill. Young will be taking over as acting assistant city manager, officials said.

In their new positions, Fiori will make $148,241 annually and Young will make $153,416, officials said.

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