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By Paul Takahashi (contact) 
Published Tuesday, May 17, 2011 | 6:32 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, May 17, 2011 | 9:32 p.m.
North Las Vegas budget
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KSNV coverage of approval of North Las Vegas budget, May 17, 2011.
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- Layoffs possible in North Las Vegas amid $22.6 million shortfall (4-7-2011)
- NLV City Council again delays action on firefighter contract (4-6-2011)
- Union says North Las Vegas firefighters average 4.3 sick days annually (2-14-2011)
- North Las Vegas seeks audit of firefighter sick leave, overtime (2-2-2011)
- North Las Vegas firefighters’ union reaches agreement with city (1-11-2011)
- North Las Vegas approves tentative agreement with police union (1-5-2010)
- Police union, North Las Vegas reach tentative agreement (12-16-2010)
The North Las Vegas City Council approved a $504.9 million budget proposal during a special three-hour meeting Tuesday night that could result in laying off more than 250 city employees.
The vote on the fiscal year 2012 budget was 4-1. Mayor Shari Buck was the sole dissenter.
The city faces a larger budget shortfall next year — $30.3 million — than initially anticipated, after state projections showed higher-than-expected losses of federal funding after the U.S. Marshals moved 250 inmates from the North Las Vegas Detention Center to a new facility in Pahrump.
Previously, the city had estimated a $22.6 million budget gap.
The elimination of some 259 full-time positions would affect about eight non-union employees, 154 Teamsters, 40 firefighters, 43 police officers, five Police
Supervisors Association members and nine temporary employees. The layoffs are expected to save the city $27.9 million.
The final number of layoffs, however, could be reduced if additional concessions are made by the unions.
With the council’s approval of the city’s third Budget Reduction Program on Tuesday night, North Las Vegas will have eliminated 892 positions since fiscal year 2009.
The pink slips are expected to be sent out in the next three to four weeks, city officials said.
In addition to the layoffs, the city will establish spending freezes, a 15 percent health insurance premium increase for city employees, as well as implementing 10 furlough days with no holiday payout.
The plan is expected to meet the short-term goal of leaving 6.2 percent of the General Fund budget in reserve. If the city were to fall below a 4.1 percent ending fund balance, the state could take a closer look at the city’s finances to see if it is making prudent financial decisions, city officials said.
The proposed budget, which is due to the state by June 1, will provide for the opening of the SkyView multi-generational center and the transition to a new City Hall. In addition, the budget will help keep open two of the city’s four pools this summer and pay for the maintenance of 3.5 miles of new trails.
Northtown will be national news within months - Not much can save it now!
Last one out, please turn off the lights!
Agreed. The cops and the good people are already overrun by the NLV gangs...good luck with cutting back even more on NLV cops.
Why dont you "fire" the people who are really in charge...the gangs, at least 50% of which could probably be legally deported.
olbuddy:
obama won't let you do that.....They are his new voters base!
Chunky says:
Tough times require tough decisions. The city either doesn't have the revenue to support the services anymore or they were overspending to begin with.
That's what Chunky thinks!
That is what happens when you spend more than you make.
Time to annex North Las Vegas and merge it with the City of Las Vegas...
hold on yyz - not so fast. I don't want to fix their problems!
Well at least the nicest building in town will be the half empty, way overbuilt new city hall building.
I wonder if they will sit on the upper floors of that new tower and look down on all the crime going on right below them.
At tonights NLV City Council meeting all we heard was how dangerous NLV is by the Police Union. The Police Chief Never said a word about danger in NLV. This seemed strange to me so I checked the FBI most dangerous cities list and guess what? NLV is rated 147, Las Vegas is 72 out of 260 cities. That makes Las Vegas twice as dangerous as NLV.
"Infrmd" is correct.
It's time to dissolve NLV and merge it into Clark County. No need for a new City Hall, Jail, Offices Salaries, Politicians, etc......
North Town pays the highest salarys for government workers of all municipalities in the valley. With the unemployment rate, forclosures and drop in tax collections the city is out of money. Note to unions: take the cuts, NLV is broke, suck it up or sign up for unemployment.
At least they did the budget. I don't think the state budget will ever get done.
@ isthis4real
sadly, i couldn't agree with you more. I was willing to give slowbama a chance at first, but when he went after arizona's new anti illegal immigrant law i was done with him.
Now he's down in El Paso preaching border security. Hypocrite waffler.
Too bad the City has the money to open a new city hall they couldn't afford, a water treatment plant that can't open, spend money on a firework display, and buy new office furniture for the city all. All taken from teamsters salaries..........Talk about overspending. When we can't afford something we don't buy it........
Cost of Living has gone down so give employees a REVERSE COLA. We've been going through a correction to our economy and these changes are LONG TERM, here to stay, so ADJUST EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION TO REFLECT TODAY'S ECONOMY. Do NOT raise any taxes. Don't pretend that "when things turn around" you can continue spending and paying frivolous amounts in compensation. You'd reverse any economic gains ...
thats right rose. these politicians need to stop these short term temporary fixes. The wages are out of line, and needs to be fixed. We know shari buck isn't going to do it.
It's unfortunate that it's come to this. What's even more unfortunate when your Mayor is the one who seems to be out of touch with the situation. It unusual in this state when a Republican is so entrenched with both the Police Officers Association and the International Association of Firefighters (most of whom live OUTSIDE of North Las Vegas) that she sits there and pouts instead of working to build consensus, bring all Public Unions, not just the Teamsters to the table to negotiate settlements that will keep people employed and maintain some semblance of a quality of life in North Las Vegas.
We need to encourage the thoughtful leadership of Councilmembers Wood and Cherchio, who seem to get the term "shared sacrifice." They didn't cause those problems, Mayor Buck and the previous City Councils, along with fired City Manager Gregory Rose, did. Wood and Cherchio are working to keep North Las Vegas a community of choice rather than a dumping ground.
If the city of North Las Vegas does not clean up its act and soon, it may be time to petition the state to revoke the City's charter.
One other thought - this is just the opening salvo. It's designed to create urgency with the Collective Bargaining units so that they come to the table for the good of the city. However, only the Teamsters seem to understand this.
27.9 mil divided by 259 equals $107,000 per. How can you let such bargain employees go? lol I am tired of all this, where is my damn handout?
@Ken and Ben
You are both right. I think it is time.
@oldbuddy
People like you are nothing more than a major part of the problem. Your bigotry blurs your comprehension of the real issues. You are nothing more than a one subject talking point.
Regional influence - that is the outcome of your approach.
They should merge North Las Vegas with Las Vegas if Las Vegas is willing to take them.
They really should merge North Las Vegas, Las Vegas and Clark County government into one government.
It looks like times are gonna be tough in North Las Vegas for quite awhile. North Las Vegas shouldn't spend beyond its means, and like always the union's usually are always trying to keep things the way they are or their always demanding pay increases when times are tough. Also what happened to the $20,000,000 that Harry Reid promised them during the elections?? Now the city has a water reclamation plant that's now going to sit unfinished, talk about wasted taxpayers money.Don't we think it's time to finally be fiscally responsible and spend within our means if I have to the city should.