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Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 | 1:30 p.m.
CARSON CITY — Gov. Brian Sandoval said he will still attempt to reverse salary cuts and furloughs borne by state employees since 2009, but the state has to weigh costs in health and human services and see where the state's tax collections are. Sandoval, talking to reporters Tuesday after a Board of Examiner's meeting, said he never promised to restore those cuts, though instructions to agencies included that direction. "I'm hopeful ... we can restore some of those salary reductions that have occurred historically," he said. Since 2009, the state's budget has been balanced in large part with reductions to ...
Stable paychecks are wonderful for employees. Pay increases would be an insult to Nevada citizens and taxpayers. Let's get some equity (serious compensation cuts) in city, county, and school district compensation--including AT LEAST half of PERS costs withheld from ALL employee paychecks. Negative COL's are in order AFTER revised / cut pay scales for almost all local government job categories.
This is where the Sun could do better reporting. What is the fact? Did Sandoval make the promise or not?
@ Roslenda (Roberta Anderson)
Who are you to say that anyone, state employee or not, deserves to have a pay cut? And if you're going to throw around statements about labor costs, you need to also provide actual proof of said statement. I'm not a state employee, no. But I have certainly seen what kind of things they have to go through, especially ones that be in from traffic court to the DMV, are in customer-facing positions that have to put up with the kind of angry bitterness that you're dishing out yet again. They deserve what they make, and it's not their fault that the state entered into agreements for whatever salaries these people receive, if they are in fact overcompensated.
Refusing to pay your payroll because you think it's too high after agreeing to it isn't any more irresponsible than say letting a house slip into foreclosure because you don't want to pay the high mortgage note that you agreed to.
Robert Rooney...
Right freaking on.
Couldn't have said it better.
@DMC: Although you have valid points about the work state employees have to do, I think the point is that state employees work for us. When a business is failing and losing money they down size or have pay cuts. Since state employees work for the people I think anyone of us has the right to think that cuts in pay can be appropriate.
@Rosienda: You obviously understand nothing about how state service works. This is not a "raise", this is a restoration of what was taken from us going on four years ago. In the meantime our benefit package has been gutted to the point that we are paying twice as much for far less coverage. It's a double whammy. As far as PERS, more than 13 percent of my salary already goes into it.
Lest anyone take this as a complaint, it isn't. I understand that there are those far worse off than I am, and I fully understand the reality of our current financial situation. I am not ripping the governor for his stance, although I am bothered by his dancing around the semantics of the matter.
@Chuck: The difference is this: Private industry cuts back when demand is down. We are being cut back while demand for our services is UP. Nevada already has the lowest number of state employees per capita in the country. Now we are being asked to deal with a greatly increased workload with no more personnel, lower operating budgets plus furloughs that keep us out of the office. Cut our salary and greatly incrtease our health care costs and you have the whole package.
If state employees are not happy with their current situation they are free to quit and take their services elsewhere at any time.
There would be hundreds if not thousands lining up to fill your newly vacated positions.
Roslenda,
A pay increase to a state employee is an insult? When there is currently a surplus of $130 million that was saved off of our backs? Your comment is an insult! The article states that we (state employees) gave up $123 million per year in pay cuts and furloughs. It was just furloughs before 2011, but the same savings (just 6 more furloughs instead of pay cuts). We have also saved the state 69 million per year in frozen step increases and longevity pay. This is since 2009 and until a minimum of 2013. Add that up and then insult me with the amount that we have given up. Yep, that number is $768 million or more than three quarters of a billion in savings directly on the back of state employees. That is almost one sixth of the state budget for a biennium. We have given up twice what any other government agency has given up or more! This number doesn't even include the cost of our health insurance and reduction of benefits on top.
Now, the state has recovered to the point that there is a surplus. Your argument is completely absurd and we DESERVE to have some if not all of these cuts rolled back. WE HAVE PAID FOR IT! What Sandoval and his chief of staff have said is that because of the increased cost of Health and Human Services they may extend these cuts. In what world is that not insane? 17,000 state employees will pay the new costs associated with this? Are you kidding me? That needs to be a tax that is extended to all Nevadans equally. You can chuck the word fair right out the window here. Then again, the cuts themselves were not fair to people who were not topped out with time in grade. So why start being fair now? Just keep screwing the guys and gals at the bottom, it has worked up until now. I'm not a union guy, but they were built for people getting screwed like state employees are right now.
DMC: We've had significant cuts in the cost of living. "Agreements" / pay scales have not been adjusted for these changes. Housing costs less, much less.
johnman: Zero was saved off your back. You have the choice to stay on the job or walk away--whenever your employer changes what your offered pay will be.
Orca: Nevada tax revenues have to be spread further--we have more and more illegal students in K-12, more and more illegals at UMC stealing medical treatment, more illegals doing crime for cash so law enforcement is busy.
K-12 demanded all our money, in prior years, so there is no rainy day fund to cover us now. There is no money to pay all the State workers more UNLESS we cut compensation to the overpaid city, county, school district employees and get them on par with State employees.
DMC: By the way, I am the EMPLOYER of the State employees of whom I speak. I am entitled to set their compensation at a reasonable level. I am also entitled to reduce compensation....
@stopthebs,
Go to www.dop.nv.gov. After you see all of those open positions, go to all other government sites and see their openings. Just go to lasvegasnevada.gov and look at apply for jobs and you can see the City of Henderson, North Las Vegas, City of Las Vegas and Clark County. They have very few if no open positions. Why is that? State employment is not as grand as you think. I encourage anyone who is out of work to apply for all these jobs that you think are so wonderful. I hope you don't mind making $10 or $12 dollars per hour to start if you have no training or experience. Oh yeah, then they will automatically deduct the PERS from you paycheck. After you pay your health insurance, you should have six or seven hundred dollar checks every two weeks, if not less.
Don't tell me people will stand in line for these jobs, because they just don't. There is a reason why these jobs are open, they require standards and ethics that most jobs don't. All this for about as much as someone on unemployment makes. So don't give me the hundreds or thousands are standing in line crap, it just isn't true. The proof is in the pudding, just look at the open jobs on the website.
@Roslenda,
Nothing was saved off my back? Really? My reduced paychecks over the past 4 years would surely disagree with you. There are also 16,999 other people who would agree with me on this one. And three quarters of a billion dollars in the coffers that would also disagree with you. I have given up somewhere in the range of 35%, but that wouldn't make sense to you because it sounds like you lack logic. While you're at it, explain to me how you employ state employees?
@stopthebs: I am a department manager, and I conduct employment interviews. Quite a few people turn down our jobs once they get the whole story. Part of the issue is that the area I hire for has not had to endure the same kind of hardships as construction, for example, so they can do better elsewhere.At least two thirds of the people we contact decline the opportunity to interview, and roughly 50 percent decline the job once it is offered. This doesn't count the people who leave within the first six months after seeing what they have gotten into, starting the process all over again.
Gotta love the "You work for me, you're lucky you are paid anything, go somewhere else if you don't like it" crowd. These are probably the first people to complain about the speed of service in state offices.
Roberta says: "I am the EMPLOYER of the State employees of whom I speak. I am entitled to set their compensation at a reasonable level. I am also entitled to reduce compensation.."
Once again, you lay your ignorance of things right out there for us to pick apart (with very little effort, mind you)..
You, Roberta, elect a Surrogate to "do the hiring and firing." it is THEIR task, not yours, to make the deals with state workers. You have no control over the process, other than whining and bitching about "your" dollars being misspent on "Illegals Everywhere!!!!!" (I guess anyone with brown skin is an illegal to you) ...
The sad part is that no one really cares what you think, since you sound more and more like Chicken Little every day, with your ever increasing level of insanity in your rants. I know facts are not part of your nature, but those of us with a fully functioning set of brain synapses would rather engage in debate based on the interpolation of actual facts (and there are excellent arguments to be had for both sides), rather than delusional"If I say it loud enough, it must be true" rantings....
@rosienda: I can't believe that you have that little comprehension of reality. Significant decreases in the cost of living? I can only conclude that you don't drive a car, pay a utility bill, go to a doctor or pay a mortgage. My housing costs are fixed regardless of what happens to house prices. That only helps if you haven't bought a house yet, and you aren't saddled with a house that is worth about half the mortgage balance, like I am.
typical lying republican
@ Roslenda (Roberta Anderson)
The cost of living has gone down? Aren't the one who has argued IN FAVOR of the idea that inflation is increasing? You've cited everything from federal spending, printing money, driving down the value of the dollar, and most recently a twisted idea that raising the Federal Minimum Wage for workers devalued labor costs and thus further caused even MORE Inflation?
Your own prior words invalidate your new argument that the cost of living is going down.
A lot of anger here and I ain't gonna address it (except some of you...wow). What you should know most of us 17K state workers see the worst of you at the worst of times: in prison, in the hospital, in car accidents, and so on. And we see the abused kids, the battered spouses, and neglected seniors. We do our best, but there's simply not enough money to help everyone we need to help. So y'all keep on venting but it won't change a thing. We'll go to work tomorrow and we'll do our best to change something for better. Take of yourselves, ya hear, so we don't have to.
You folks that think State employee's are overpaid are just hillariously ignorant. State employee's pay for everything they have and are required to pay into PERS by law so you can subtract 13 to 24% depending on job title right off the top of their pay. County pays more and 100% of PERS. That brings me to a perfect example having seen it first hand, had a new girl hired at my agency last month. Everyone was ticked because she had a Masters degree and was able to jump right to a 3 spot over 1's and 2's who can't get upgrades or step increases. State employee's know what I'm talking about. That girl worked 6 hours of 1 day and quit saying, once she pays PERS and insurance, even at a 3 spot, she makes more money on unemployement to sit home for the next two years looking for a better job. Ponder that all. State employee's pay the same taxes as everyone else and must by law fund the State slush fund called PERS. I want my furloughs and 2.5% back but can swallow it because it's across the board for all State employee's. Freezing a step 1 paygrade next to a step 10 paygrade employee for over 4 years doing the same job is rediculous. Nowhere in any service or employ can you retain employees if they cannot get the most basic incentive in time and grade step increses. We are going to hire you for tens of thousands less than the guy next to you doing the same job and you can never get a raise? Really? Roberta are you kidding?
To smaction (Scott Miller)
Your comment: "This is where the Sun could do better reporting. What is the fact? Did Sandoval make the promise or not?"
Good question and fair criticism.
Gov. Sandoval never explicitly promised to do away with pay raises. But, since March, and as recently as late last months, critics have said that Sandoval's administration has not painted a realistic picture of what's possible.
The budget director had agencies build budgets with that money in. Higher education did something similar. While that's largely an administrative exercise, it certainly seems like it gave 25,000 state workers false hope.
Here's the story from March: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/mar...
In it, then Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert makes clear Sandoval feels state workers' pain. But Gansert said a final recommendation about state employee pay and furloughs will be made by Sandoval after December.
In that story, the (now former) head of AFSCME accused Sandoval of not being realistic.
Then in this story in September, http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/sep..., an assemblywoman publicly questioned how Sandoval would balance his budget.
In both cases, I think critics would argue, the administration did not moderate expectations enough.
I love all the comments especially Roslenda (Roberta Anderson. The question I have to asked since I have been here 42 years. Roberta, name one state income tax you have paid here in Nevada? Right there is none all you pay is vehicle reg., sales tax and property taxes. Now if you paid tax income tax that directly effected your paycheck you would have a gripe. But you have none. So when things are bad take it out on state employees. How about raising the gaming tax from 6% which by the way is lowest in the world to 9% so that the biggest industry can share the pain of this state. Plus don't give me the job creator garbage since I was here in the early 70's when this state was hit hard but since the mob controled the industry then there motto was people come first (no layoffs customer come first) now it is I want more profit so that I can give 100 million to rig an election. What are you so angry about, maybe you are jealious of the govt. workers. The onlyreason many state workers stay is that people like you cannot raid there retirement fund which they must pay 50% (they pay 13% state pays 13% to keep employees at low wages). Where were you writing when casino workers made more than govt workers yet these workers kept working even though you made more money and they did not complain.
DMC: Inflation is on hold will the Federal Reserve dangerously plays with our economic future. We've actually experienced deflation. Again, housing costs are mucho lower. Average household income has DROPPED from about $55K per annum to about $50K, roughly 10% DROP. Let's get city, county, SD employees to drop to reasonable levels--perhaps with paying half their PERS--about 14%. I am familiar with various government pay scales--city of Vegas, County of Clark, SD of CC overpay substantially. If State employees do nothing but whine and whimper THIS WILL NOT CHANGE. TALK to your Legislature and deal with the disparity. Sure, you have to bite the bullet for now but GET SOME EQUITY while you can. And pair up, work with, the taxpayers who are so economically-attacked that we can join forces and BE HEARD OVER THE CONTINUAL HYPE OF local government employees and school teachers. For example, K-12 pays an AVERAGE OF $74k AND UP TO $96k for part time work, 184 days at 7 hours. As a state employee, would you like that?
Patrick, there are many readers and posters who do not follow every article nor every post. People often don't grasp something at first exposure. Repetition is a proven tool. You are entitled to your opinions but you are NOT entitled to belittle me for differing with you. And you are not entitled to question my right to expression. FYI: I am of mixed race and grew up off a reservation. I come from various bloodlines including those most entitled to this geography. As for brown skin, I have full siblings that are darker skinned than most Hispanics. Your presumptuous arrogant attitude needs review. I am dedicated to changing this nation for the better not perpetuating the mistakes we've made. Yes, you and I express ourselves much differently. I do NOT attack those who don't think out their posts. I do sometimes differ with what they've said. It is absolutely ridiculous that we spend upwards of $150K per K-12 student and get negative results.
Is someone trying to BUY VOTES?
figmo: Please read all my posts to this article. I am trying to back State workers with parity to other government workers BUT not raise taxes to do so. The SUT allocation gives so much to City, County, and School Districts that they have raised salaries and raised and raised. The 2% to the General Fund, but with increasing State costs, means state employees have not received comparable raises. Yes, I want to cut ALL expenditures down to reasonable and cost-effective levels. (And in this economy, everything SHOULD BE CUT.) But, I'd like to start with the most over-paid. You might visit City, County, SD web sites and get voluminous info. I do not repeat it nor do I get into links. If we want to fix things, it's going to take a little effort from a lot of people.
Ok, Roberta, would you mind pointing out the Illegal students in my school? I invite you to come by and let me know which children should be tossed out. I also invite you to represent the district, when they are sued for ignoring Federal law (which one, you ask? How about the one that GUARANTEES A FREE AND APPROPRIATE EDUCATION FOR EVERY STUDENT WHO WALKS THROUGH THE DOOR?!? oh, you didn't know about that one???)
This country has decided that ALL children deserve an education - period. If you don't like it, get off your booty and go change the law - stop whining about "Those Illegal students," and put some skin in the game.
Also, I do not care about your skin color, bloodline, ancestry or anything else - You have something against what you call "Illegals." to everyone with a full set of working brain cells, that is read as "Brown people." It is not uncommon for one to have a bias against people of their own heritage; we need only look back about 160 years or so, to see that same attitude towards people who were just a little browner. Luckily my Great Great Great Great Grandfather had some morality and left his 30,000 acre plantation to his "Wife" whom he was legally barred from marrying - along with a Gatling gun to protected from the whites who were stupid enough to try and take it away.
Patrick, this country has NOT decided all children deserve education. The SCOTUS made a specific decision for an Asian child who's legality here was questionable--not absolutely illegal. The schools have FAILED to get clarification.
Further, the LVSun provides a forum for discussion of diverging viewpoints. We don't have to conform to your suggestions. Where have I EVER suggested that it is up to the schools to sort out the kids. Doesn't the STATE have something to do with funding, policy, oversight? Doesn't the State (legislature) have the ability to provide the legislation to EXPEL ILLEGALS?
Patrick, since you have all the answers, where are we going to get the funding for 12-15 million illegals and kids? Not just K-12 but all the programs they run to. I just heard from an acquaintance at the food bank who says illegals with ipads and smartphones keep coming in for the free food while she makes do on modest income. I guess you don't plan on retiring--cause in your world there won't be any funding for it.
SCOTUS did NOT say the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment BUT many assumed that's what they'd said. WONG KIM ARK 1898 SCOTUS said a Chinese student BORN IN THE U.S. was to be enrolled in public school. Even that does not mean birth here equals citizenship--when your parents were here ILLEGALLY. As for the kids who were NOT BORN HERE, it hasn't been decided. It MIGHT be preferable to enroll them in public school UNTIL DEPORTED, EXPELLED but the feds are failing to enforce our laws. Therefore the states have the RESPONSIBILITY TO ACT TO protect it's citizens, including protecting our economy.
State workers have been absolutely suffering for the last four years. Sandoval says he understand our pain but he isn't making the sacrifice that the 14,000 of us are. I'd like to see how Sandoval would feel if he had $100.00 to spend on food for his family after paying his very meager bills. All of our expendable cash has been eliminated and with the freeze in step increases you have the same people doing the job with a huge separation in salaries.