County commissioners to consider raising their $72,488 annual salaries

By Conor Shine (contact)

Thursday, March 14, 2013 | 3:44 p.m.

After several years that included salary freezes and a pay cuts, Clark County commissioners next week could put themselves in line for a raise.

The commission will discuss setting a new salary schedule for the board at its Tuesday meeting, meaning possible raises for the seven commissioners, who currently make $72,488 plus benefits.

County Manager Don Burnette said an increase in salary would be appropriate for commissioners, given that their salaries have increased 6 percent since 2005.

“I’m not aware of any public employee group or any public official who has seen their wages grow by less than 1 percent annually over the last 8 years,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything unreasonable about the board considering increasing their wages.”

Burnette said staff and commissioners have had an ongoing conversation about board wages for several years.

In 2007, the Legislature passed a bill allowing county commission boards across the state to increase wages by 4 percent annually over four years.

Clark County commissioners approved the 4 percent raises in 2007 and 2008 but declined to take them in 2009 and 2010 as the economy crumbled and the county budget shrank.

The commission took a 2 percent pay cut in 2011 and took no action on their salaries in 2012.

The budget for the upcoming year has not been completed yet and it’s too early to tell whether the county will face a deficit, Burnette said. In years past, the county has addressed budget deficits by cutting costs and not filling vacant positions.

“The figures we’ve seen are pretty encouraging compared to the last five years,” he said. “I don’t expect revenues to fall. We might even see a little revenue growth; that’s pretty encouraging.”