Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

County OKs 2 percent pay cut for non-union managers

Despite sometimes-heated debate, Clark County commissioners overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to reduce pay for more than 250 non-union county employee managers by 2 percent.

Commissioners already had cut their own pay 2 percent and an agreement with the county’s largest employee union also calls for 2 percent salary cuts. The union is expected to vote on that agreement this week.

Commissioner Tom Collins, a union supporter, was the sole vote against the cut to management salaries, saying the county needs to cut other areas of compensation, such as longevity pay, holiday and vacation days, and car allowances.

Commissioner Steve Sisolak said he agreed that benefit cuts need to be considered, but moved to cut salaries now on the condition that commissioners consider cutting longevity pay for the management employees at their next meeting.

Under the approved cut, between 250 and 300 county employees, including some at University Medical Center and the Clark County Water Reclamation District, will see 2 percent pay cuts effective later this month. However, about half of those employees are still entitled to longevity pay increases later this year.

Collins said the county spends about $900,000 per year on longevity and $250,000 per year on car allowances for these employees. He asked that commissioners hold off any pay cuts until they can consider all potential areas to cut.

Sisolak said current financial issues require immediate action. The cuts will save the county about $1.2 million a year.

Other commissioners said they were concerned about cutting compensation for management employees, since as a group, they have already had far more cuts than any other employee group.

Commissioner Larry Brown said management employees are the only ones who have taken a true pay cut already and have not had any raises in three years; “And here we are asking them again to take another 2 percent, maybe 2 percent plus longevity,” he said.

Brown said he would support the motion anyway; “But I think we’re starting to really punish those that have a three-year track record of working toward a solution. So I’ll support it with caution.”

Sisolak said he was also worried about employees, but that when things get better again, they should be the first to get raises since they had the most cuts.

“We are losing good managers, I know we will probably lose more good managers, but we have to stop this,” he said.

Commissioners initially delayed approving the salary cut until after the union approved its contract, but the union responded by delaying its vote, saying management needed to take a cut before the other employees would.

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