Workers not losing all raises

CARSON CITY — Most state employees will get raises in the next fiscal year, even if lawmakers slash a scheduled 4 percent cost-of-living increase to balance the budget.

Fifty-seven percent of the 16,228 classified state employees and 67 percent of the 18,000 teachers in the Clark County School District still will receive 4.5 percent step-in-grade increases, automatic annual raises for those with less than 10 years on the job.

Almost all university faculty members typically receive 2.5 percent merit pay increases, while in the community colleges, as a rule, faculty members across-the-board receive 2.5 percent merit pay increases. However, faculty statewide already have agreed to forgo their merit raises for the first half of the fiscal year.

Gov. Jim Gibbons has called a special three-day legislative session for Friday, asking lawmakers to reconsider the COLA and examine other measures to reduce state spending by $250 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Eliminating the cost-of-living increase would save $130 million. It also would spare 2,000 jobs, predicted Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno.

Legislators from both parties, however, have been looking for alternatives that cut state spending without touching the COLA or forcing layoffs.

Dennis Mallory, chief of staff of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 4041, argues that legislators must keep both the COLA and the step increases intact.

“These are professionals,” Mallory said of the state employees his union represents. “A lot of our members accept a low starting salary and, as they progress, they get step-in-grade increases every year unless they receive a less than standard evaluation. Private industry has this (cost-of-living increases) too.”

But Cara Roberts, director of public relations for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, disagreed, saying, “In light of the economy, private businesses are limiting raises for everyone. They are having a hard time meeting their budgets. Some are not giving out any raises, including cost-of-living adjustments. These are tough times.”

Instead of automatic raises, businesses in good economic times award pay increases based on merit, Roberts said.

“In the private sector, there are no step increases that you get automatically and no automatic cost-of-living adjustments,” she added.

Nationally, employees are expected to receive on average 3.6 percent increases in pay this year, according to Compdata Surveys, a firm that made the forecast on June 4.

Culpepper, another firm that analyzes business trends, predicted a 3.9 percent average increase in pay in 2008.

Without the COLA and step-in-grade pay increases, Mallory contends state employees would go through their entire working careers without seeing increases in real spending income.

Those who started at $20,000 a year might retire after 30 years on a $40,000 salary, but that would be equivalent to the $20,000 they earned when they began working, Mallory said.

“If a 4 percent COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) is the most you are ever going to get, why would anyone stay in state government?” he asked.

Mallory hopes to have 1,000 state employees rally at noon Friday in front of the Legislative Building.

The 4 percent COLA is slightly less than the 4.2 percent rise in the consumer price index for the 12 months ending in May.

Some state employees will receive a small increase, or no increase at all, if the COLA is shelved.

About 1,070 unclassified state employees, generally higher-paid supervisory employees, are not eligible for the 4.5 percent annual step increases.

And 43 percent of state employees and 33 percent of teachers are “topped out” after 10 years on the job, meaning they no longer are eligible for step increases.

Many of those employees, however, do qualify for longevity pay, which begins at $150 per year for state employees and $500 for teachers.

The longevity pay increases at rates of $50 to $100 per year. The most a 30-year employee can get is roughly $2,350.

At least one employee group already has shown its willingness to give up some pay if doing so would prevent layoffs.

Jim Richardson, the longtime lobbyist for the Nevada Faculty Alliance, pointed out that professors are doing their part.

They have agreed to defer their merit pay for six months as part of previous budget cuts made by the governor.

“The faculty members are very interested in trying to avoid layoffs,” Richardson said. “But we have to pay our gas bills, too.”

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, supports retaining both step and cost-of-living pay increases.

She noted the step increase for new teachers, earning $33,000 a year in Clark County, is about $1,500 a year, which she does not consider a lot of money.

“We are trying to attract and retain good teachers and employees,” she said.

Contact Review-Journal Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or (775) 687-3901.