County moves toward boosting pay of nonunion workers

About 750 Clark County employees could know next month if their pay is going up.

County commissioners directed staff Tuesday to prepare a proposal for boosting the salaries of about 750 nonunion, nonmanagement employees.

Commissioners haven’t made a final decision, but didn’t raise any initial objections to the idea, which they discussed publicly for the first time.

If the proposal is approved, about 750 employees whose salaries were cut 2 percent in 2011, would get salary increases of about 2 percent.

“They’ve had no wage movement in that time period going back to 2011,” County Manager Don Burnette said.

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani supported the proposal, saying, “I do think we need to restore the 2 percent that was taken away during our budget cuts.”

As part of that proposal, commissioners are also considering the elimination of longevity pay for future employees not yet hired. Longevity pay, 2 percent of base salary, starts for employees after they have eight years of seniority.

Under the proposal, current employees who haven’t yet reached the eight-year mark would still be eligible for longevity pay in the future.

The cost of the potential salary increases is estimated at $1 million. The savings from eliminating longevity pay, meanwhile, is estimated at $28.3 million across a 30-year period.

Merit pay increases have been frozen since 2011, after dropping from 3 percent to 1 percent in 2009. The nonunion and nonmanagement workers no longer get cost-of-living increases.

Those employees are in District Court, human resources, finance and commissioners’ office, earning an average salary of $59,585. The proposal will come up for a vote in August.

Other salary increases could be ahead for county workers. The county’s currently in negotiations with the Service Employees International Union, which is the county’s largest union and represents 5,000 employees. SEIU members also had 2 percent pay cuts in 2011.

Contact reporter Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.