Judge blocks 17 police layoffs in North Las Vegas

A judge’s order has temporarily saved the jobs of 17 North Las Vegas police officers.

District Judge Nancy Alff on Friday granted a temporary restraining order that prevents the city from laying off the officers and other members of the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association pending a hearing on a preliminary injunction next week.

“I’m concerned primarily about the safety of the citizens of North Las Vegas,” Alff said.

Police union officials have said that the Police Department is already understaffed and that the loss of more officers would leave the city unsafe.

“It’ll get dicey,” said Jeff Allen, an attorney for the union.

The officers began receiving pink slips early this week.

The layoffs were part of the city’s plan to bridge a $30.3 million shortfall in fiscal year 2012, which starts July 1. If the city can’t soon lay off the officers and 26 other police union members — including detention officers and marshals — it will have to lay off more employees in other areas, said Al Noyola, acting director of administrative services and finance for the city.

Otherwise, the city might have to declare a severe financial emergency, he said. That would trigger state intervention into the city’s financial management.

“Our budget will not be in balance,” Noyola said. “Right now we’re in limbo.”

The city in May approved a 2012 budget that included eliminating 258 positions across city departments, including the police positions and those of 40 firefighters. More than 150 of the positions belong to the city’s Teamsters members, who work in jobs ranging from park maintenance to code enforcement.

Layoffs still could be avoided if the city and its employee unions come to agreements on contract concessions.

The city employs 290 police officers, 119 corrections officers and 21 full-time marshals.

The police union insisted the layoffs violate a late 2010 agreement between the city and union in which the city agreed to “no layoffs for 18 months.”

As part of that agreement, made during contract concession talks, union officials said they would sit for more talks if a “mutually agreed upon third party” determined the city’s budget shortfall would require further concessions.

But an outside financial review completed this month by Mark Alden, an accountant and member of the higher education system’s Board of Regents, said the city budget shortfall “absolutely does not require further concessions” from the union. It also said the city has decreased funding for police at an “alarming rate” in recent years while increasing other expenditures.

City officials contested the review, saying it included several errors and “improper analysis.”

Allf referred to the agreement and third-party review in court Friday, asking the city: “Why did you make that agreement if you can’t live up to it?”

North Las Vegas officials have insisted that the agreement, including the requirement of a third-party review, simply lays out a set of procedural steps for the city to follow before starting layoffs and that any conditions concerning layoffs outlined in that agreement have been met.

“It would be suicide for the city to make an unqualified commitment to not lay off,” said Richard Dreitzer, an attorney for the city.

The union wants the city to be prohibited from laying off police union members until the 18 months have elapsed or an arbitrator rules on the dispute.

In a separate case Thursday, a judge issued a temporary restraining order to freeze pay and benefit cuts North Las Vegas had planned to make for the 60-member Police Supervisors Association. Those cuts were to take effect June 19. A hearing on a preliminary injunction in that case also is scheduled for next week.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.