North Las Vegas leaning on unions to balance budget

North Las Vegas is leaning on its unions to help balance its budget in the next fiscal year.

The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a spending plan that assumes bargaining groups will agree to concessions.

City officials are currently in negotiations with the labor groups, according to a budget presentation. Officials want to minimize reductions in employee take-home pay and service cuts for residents by reducing benefits to unionized employees.

Union concessions would need to fill an $11.3 million hole to balance the budget, according to the city. If the unions do not agree to cuts, then the city would need to find another way to cover the shortfall, city spokesman Patrick Walker said.

City Manager Ryann Juden said he is confident the city will get an agreement, and that the relationship with the groups is not adversarial.

“Do I believe that all the unions are going to come back and give us exactly that? I don’t,” Finance Director William Harty told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He said he thinks not filling job vacancies could cover some of the cost.

The city, which was on the cusp of expanding staffing levels and services to residents in the coming fiscal year, will remain lean. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

North Las Vegas’ general fund revenues are expected to take a nearly $30 million hit as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Now, many new jobs and projects scheduled in the upcoming fiscal year will not happen. That includes the cancellation of 65 new full-time equivalent positions that were initially budgeted for the upcoming fiscal year. Harty told council members that public safety jobs were included in that group of positions.

Layoffs are not included in the budget.

The budget does include new jobs to open its jail, but that project will also experience cuts, Harty said. Some jail-related positions have been cut, while others will see cuts to starting pay. he said. North Las Vegas expects to save $3.4 million in the general fund as a result.

General fund spending is budgeted to drop to nearly $143.9 million in the upcoming fiscal year. Estimated spending in the current fiscal year is about $159.5 million.

North Las Vegas took an immediate approach to stemming some of its spending in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It implemented a soft hiring freeze, meaning officials are only hiring critical positions. It also cut back its spending in other areas, such as travel.

“To the extent that we don’t have to spend (money), we won’t,” Harty said.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.