Council votes to cut 204 city jobs, pare down services

Advertisement

Two-hundred and four city employees will lose their jobs in the coming weeks, and another round of job cuts might follow as soon as July 1 if union concessions aren't made, City Councilman Robert Eliason said.

During an April 1 special meeting, the North Las Vegas City Council approved by a 4-to-1 vote a plan to eliminate 204 positions and scale back a number of city services.

The financially strapped city has been working to tighten its belt and cut back expenses, with five rounds of budget cuts having been announced since December 2008. The city also is trying to find new ways to generate revenue.

Last week's council decision came after months of meetings and efforts to trim overhead from individual departments, along with talks with unions, which, according to councilwoman Anita Wood, were at an impasse as of last week.

"Nobody here wants to lay people off," Wood said. "I am in favor of people who work hard getting what they have earned. In the good times, when the money is there, that's great. I support unions in that. But there is a difference in refusing to give a pay rate increase and just not having the money. If the unions would come to us willing to talk, to have an open dialogue and make some concessions, some jobs might have been saved here."

In 2009, the three unions that represent, respectively, the city's firefighters, police officers and Teamsters agreed to contract concessions that included cost-of-living deferrals, which will save the city $8.7 million.

Council members said the concessions were a step in the right direction but that more must be done.

To date, Wood said, the firefighters' union has been the only bargaining unit to step forward and declare a willingness to make more concessions than those agreed to last year.

Mayor Shari Buck, the only member of the council to vote no on the layoffs, said she could not support the plan because it called for the elimination of 16 firefighter jobs.

"Public safety is my first priority, and I cannot support something that will take firefighters or police off our streets," she said. "I believe that it is the primary responsibility of the government to keep our citizens safe."

Councilman Robert Eliason said after the meeting that he was frustrated by the mayor's remarks and took personal offense at her comments.

"She is supposed to be the leader of this council," he said. "And over the months we have discussed layoffs and how this is a last resort, she has never once brought something to the table to save jobs. She won't support the cuts that we have to make to balance our budget, by law. But she has not come to the table with any ideas whatsoever about how to save those public safety positions. It is posturing. It is very disappointing."

Upon being told the next day of Eliason's remarks, Buck lashed back.

"I'm more concerned about the safety of the residents of North Las Vegas than I am about a petulant city council person throwing an adolescent temper tantrum," Buck said.

City officials projected several weeks ago that as many as 273 jobs might need to be cut. An executive buyout program taken by 10 department and assistant department heads, along with a number of cost recovery incentives, brought that number down significantly.

After the April 1 meeting, Eliason said job reductions beyond the 204 already approved by council could be necessary as early as this summer when the new fiscal year begins if the unions continue to resist making concessions. Eliason declined to speculate as to how many additional city job losses might occur in the 2011 fiscal year.

A list of employees and specific positions approved for elimination were not available at press time. The plan to terminate 204 jobs called for notification of the affected employees to begin immediately.

Job reductions are only part of the city's plan to help trim expenses and save an additional $33.4 million for the 2011 fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2010.

Acting City Manager Maryann Ustick said during a presentation before the council that, based on recommendations made during a recent council retreat, $19.6 million in programs and city services also will be cut. Every branch of city service will feel the sting of the cuts, Ustick said.

The police department will defer vehicle replacements and freeze positions, saving $4.9 million.

The fire department will save an additional $2.7 million through cuts to code enforcement and operational units.

Budget cuts will be coming to city libraries in the next few months as hours are cut back, book budgets are reduced and services are eliminated.

The city also plans to close two community pools.

"We have to work together," Wood said. "It isn't easy. Nothing about this is easy. But if we want to make it through this intact, we all have to work together."

Contact North Las Vegas and Downtown View reporter Amanda Llewellyn at allewellyn@viewnews.com or 380-4535.