Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

New county pay scale may cost another $1 million

Separate financial reports by Clark County finance and personnel departments confirm that a new job and salary plan adopted by the County Commission will cost at least $1 million next year.

Board members asked for the analysis two months ago after county officials could not give an exact reckoning of what the new plan could cost in the 1996-97 budget year that begins July 1.

The plan, based on a $98,000, three-year study, took effect in February, immediately raising the salaries of 137 workers by $250,000. But personnel and finance staff until now were vague about the impact on almost 4,000 other workers affected by the plan.

Commissioners have yet to see the actual working product of that study, nor have they received the latest fiscal breakdowns.

"It's not really about the money," Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates said Thursday. "We've got to make sure the money is there, because we approved it. I'm confident it is there. But in the future, I'd like them to do these analyses ahead of schedule so we know what the true fiscal impact is."

Gates said knowing the full amount she still would have voted for the plan because it rewards county employees more equitably than the previous system and pay scale.

County Finance Director Randy Walker said his staff estimated the new salary schedule and job categories would cost the county $1.3 million for 1996-97, assuming a 3.8 percent average merit increase during the first full fiscal year it will be implemented.

"I would call this an intelligent projection, based on a computer-generated model we use for budgeting," Walker said.

But that doesn't include estimated turnover, red-lined positions or cost-of-living increases, Walker said. A new report with cost of living projections is being run, he said, that should bring the number down to $1.1 million.

"We assume all positions are filled in our salary projection model," Walker said. "For budget purposes, we say that's not going to be the case."

The plan reduces the number of union positions from 505 to 320, and the number of salary ranges from 64 to 22. It also means salary freezes for about 180 workers and changes the criteria for merit pay increases.

An analysis done last year estimated a net salary increase of $1.65 million.

Personnel Director Cheryl Miller told the board last month that her projection placed the impact on next year's budget at an extra $1 million.

"Our staff looked at every single employee, projected when they would get an increase, and based it on certain other assumptions, like a 7 percent turnover rate," Miller said.

Miller cautioned that "until the actual pay increases come into place, we don't know."

Also, the current collective bargaining talks could result in changing the entire procedure for granting raises, Miller said.

Nonetheless, Miller said, her staff analysis "was based on good assumptions."

In the long run, Miller said, the plan will save the county money by bringing people in at lower starting salaries, and by having salaries tied to the local market, which drives the entire collective bargaining process.

Also, the new plan is more equitable internally, Miller said, ensuring that people of like value to the organization are in the same pay grades.

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