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City official: Concessions from police and firefighters unions could solve problem
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011 | 10:19 p.m.
North Las Vegas officials meet to talk budgets
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KSNV coverage of the North Las Vegas City Council meeting to draft budgets that pay for government employees such as firefighters, Nov. 16, 2011.
Sun Coverage
North Las Vegas is expecting another budget deficit for the next fiscal year, but it’s nothing concessions from police and fire unions can’t solve, according to acting finance director Al Noyola.
In a presentation to the council Wednesday night Noyola outlined the city’s current financial situation. The city will face a $15.5 million budget gap in the coming 2013 fiscal year, which is a little more than half of the previous year’s $30.3 million deficit.
But the majority of the gap, said Noyola, is the $12.3 million the city will pay when contracts with unions end next year.
Teamster furlough days, 22 days in the last 18 months, will end next year and cost the city $2.1 million. Cost-of-living adjustments for the next fiscal year, as well as the deferred 3.75 percent fire union and 4.125 percent police union cost-of-living adjustments given in concessions earlier this year, account for about $2 million. The costs also include holiday payout, uniform allowances, merit increases and overtime.
“Compensation salaries have gone up,” said Noyola, who compared salaries and benefits to fiscal year 2004. ”Today, although we are paying approximately the same dollars for labor — the compensation in benefits and salaries, we actually have 300 less (full-time employees).”
The city, which relied heavily on concessions from unions to close the current budget, is in the clear until the start of the next fiscal year. It’s recent bond restructuring plan approved last month saved the city about $4.7 million for the current 2012 fiscal year and the ending fund balance for the current fiscal year is $5.3 percent of the budget, Noyola said.
The city, which has laid off a significant portion of its staff and nearly closed recreation centers earlier this year, must make sure its finances are in order to avoid a takeover by the state taxation department.
Still, existing concessions from Teamsters, police and firefighters will expire next year and the unions may have to come to the bargaining table once again.
“If we were able to stay at the status quo, no additional payouts, no COLA, no additional merits, those things that had been deferred and now have come back, then the city is only looking at about a $3 million gap,” said Noyola.
Discussion: 4 comments so far…
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It wasn't four weeks ago that the police and firefighters made concessions and the idiots at city hall have already started asking for more concessions.Maybe the party for the opening of the new city hall went alittle over budget but how would those idiots know that. I saw in the paper last week that the city council hired the mentally challenged to clean the new city hall. Sounds like a easy transition if they changed places with the council members. Probably the only hope to get the budget under control.
Raise the property tax.
What a fine mess Mayor Buck has created. As the lone surviving council member who approved these contracts, she's all but ensured that she will be defeated, should she foolishly run for re-election in 2013. The budget deficit can no longer be closed with budget gimmicks and creative accounting. It's time for hard decisions to be made.
Avoid layoffs. Continue furloughs and eliminate any COLA increases. Halve merit increases, eliminate extra pay for working holidays or overtime.
Buck, when you adopted the FY 2012 budget it was supposed to last through June 30, 2012! You check it each month and each quarter to make sure that you are in balance, and make more cuts if needed. This city spends like it still has unlimited money coming in like it was 2005. Somebody please recall this whole Council and forclosure that new city hall building already.
The Taj Mahal cannot be afforded and there is plenty of space in the old facilities due to the number of people released. End the leases in buildings not occupied and sell the Taj Mahal to fix the defecit.
Instead of making more nonsense cuts and accounting tricks, fix the problem.
I don't think any private citizens care if we public safety makes less money.
Instead of these guys making $100k, get them to 60K and hire a few more people back. its not that difficult to fix this if these officials were not such union sell-outs!!
And the new masonry obelisks being erected in the median of that whole North 5th Street/Main Street/Las Vegas Blvd fiasco the City adopted. I guess the homeless people that live in the nearby field will have nice new block structures to look at. Another GREAT investment with MY tax money.
My guess is that if the firefighters and police said they would work for nothing, the idiots at city hall would still be over buget in 3 months.
One of the big revenue generators to close NLV deficits is to give out traffic tickets for "not signaling while changing lanes".
That's $190 if you don't fight it. The other is 7 mph over the speed limit and call it 10. Traffic tickets are a great revenue generator that pay for the new carpets, lighting and decorations of the law givers.
It's great work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try.