Policy Analyst Anahit Baghshetsyan’s op-ed for the Las Vegas Review Journal about the New York City Mayor’s race and what it could mean for Nevada.
Read the op-ed here.
Policy Analyst Anahit Baghshetsyan’s op-ed for the Las Vegas Review Journal about the New York City Mayor’s race and what it could mean for Nevada.
Read the op-ed here.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote an article based on Policy Fellow Cameron Belt’s piece about a need for changing regulations in Nevada. Read the article here.
The Reno Gazette interviewed Policy Analyst Anahit Baghshetsyan about the changes to Nevada’s home insurance law. Read the full story here.
The Reno Gazette Journal featured an op-ed by Policy Analyst Anahit Baghshetsyan about film tax credits in Nevada. Read the full article here.
Nevada Policy’s Policy Analyst, Anahit Baghshetsyan, was interviewed by NPR affiliate KUNR about the legislature’s options for the difficult insurance situation in the Silver State. Read the article here.
Nevada Policy President, John Tsarpalas was interviewed on the American Potential Podcast about the grassroots victory over RCV ballot question in the 2024 election. Watch the interview here.
The Las Vegas Review Journal cited Nevada Policy’s research in its article about Governor Lombardo’s vetoes this legislative session.
The Review-Journal’s editorial quotes Research Analyst Anahit Baghshetsyan.
Article written based on Nevada Policy’s 200 Boards report
Please put “Media” in the subject line and include your questions, deadline, and contact information, and we will respond as soon as possible.
Email: pr@nevadapolicy.org
For Immediate Release
Contact: Robert Fellner, 702-222-0642
Seven Las Vegas Metropolitan corrections officers received overtime (OT) payouts over $100,000 last year, according to newly released public pay data from TransparentNevada.com.
The data reveals that Metro corrections officer Jason Scott collected a $146,747 OT payout last year — the largest of the more than 125,000 government workers surveyed.
A $146,216 OT payout helped boost Metro corrections officer Duane Jensen’s $83,752 salary to $306,605 in total compensation, which includes benefits and additional pay beyond regular salary.
In fact, 8 of the top 10 highest OT payout statewide went to Metro corrections officers. After Jensen and Scott, the next three highest OT payouts were:
Metro wages among highest nationwide
Average pay for Metro’s correctional officers and supervisors both ranked among the highest nationwide, according to NPRI’s transparency director Robert Fellner.
“The average salary earned by corrections officers and supervisors at Nevada’s local governments surpasses what 90 percent of their peers nationwide received,” said Fellner.
The average Metro corrections officer received a regular salary of $77,286 and $153,526 in total compensation, while the average Metro correctional supervisor received a $101,351 base salary and $192,323 in total compensation.
A survey of TransparentNevada.com salary data for corrections officers at the cities of Henderson, Las Vegas, Mesquite and North Las Vegas revealed virtually identical numbers to those found at Metro.
By comparison, the average wage for correctional officers and jailers nationwide was just $45,320 in 2015, with supervisors of correctional officers earning $59,720, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While salaries at Nevada’s local governments are near national-high levels, the State is closer to average — a disparity directly attributable to the broken collective bargaining regime found at the local level, according to Fellner.
“Unsurprisingly, mandatory secretive collective bargaining at Nevada’s local governments has driven public pay to astronomical heights, burdening taxpayers and reducing services. Ironically, the State is now going to increase wages in an attempt to catch up with the skyrocketing salaries paid by local governments, leading to a never-ending upwards spiral of higher pay, higher government spending and, consequently, higher taxes.”
A new year means a new $500,000+ Metro cop
In addition to the state’s highest OT payouts, Metro also had the largest payout for unused leave statewide, with former assistant sheriff Kirk Primas collecting $369,445 from unused leave immediately before drawing an $183,000 annual retirement allowance.
This practice also accounts for most of outgoing deputy chief James Owens’ $576,222 total compensation package — the largest of any Metro worker.
The next three highest compensated Metro workers were:
An inefficient and counterproductive approach to compensation
2016 also saw the departure of Metro’s Criminalistics Bureau executive director Tracy Birch. Birch is widely recognized as one of the department’s top employees, whose departure “will create a substantial void in the department, as her span of knowledge and experience is unrivaled,” according to Metro.
Birch’s departure demonstrates how the current pension system actually incentivizes good employees to leave the system, according to Fellner. The fact that state law caps the accrual of future pension wealth after 30 years provides little incentive for Birch to continue working, even if she were willing to do so.
“Nevada state law distributes pension wealth in an incredibly uneven fashion, penalizing both those who leave the system too soon, while also forcing out the most valuable and experienced employees after just 30 years,” explained Fellner. “A sane compensation approach would encourage the most valuable and experienced employees to continue working, if they so desired, instead of forcing them out of the workforce a full decade or more before normal retirement age.”
After a nearly 32 year career, Birch will now begin collecting a $139,000 annual pension, an amount equal to over 90 percent of the $152,000 wage — which includes regular salary plus longevity pay — she collected in 2015.
Las Vegas manager gets a $38,500 raise for ‘gender equity issues’
Last year, the Las Vegas City Council awarded city manager Elizabeth Fretwell a $38,500 bonus to address “gender equity issues,” which bumped Fretwell’s total pay to $323,875, and $408,450 when benefits are included.
Drawing on data from Transparent Nevada’s sister site, TransparentCalifornia.com, it is clear that the bonus helped push her earnings well above her peers.
“Even managers in cities that are significantly larger and have a much higher cost of living — like San Diego and San Francisco — don’t take home that kind of cash earnings,” explained Fellner.
The below chart lists the earnings of city managers or comparable administrators at several California and Nevada cities. The earnings for Nevada cities reflect the 2016 calendar year, while the data for California cities is from the 2015 year. The data excludes benefits and reflects cash earnings only:
To view the entire dataset in a searchable and downloadable format, please visit TransparentNevada.com.
Total compensation is defined as total wages plus the employer-cost of health and retirement benefits.
For more information or to schedule an interview with NPRI, please contact Robert Fellner at 702-222-0642 or RF@npri.org.
###
TransparentNevada.com is a project of the Nevada Policy Research Institute. Nevada Policy fights to make sure Nevadans keep more of their hard-earned money by exposing wasteful government spending and promoting low-tax solutions to Nevada’s economic challenges. The Institute also supports a transparent and open government.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Robert Fellner, 702-222-0642
Two University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) professors received compensation packages of more than $1,000,000 each, according to newly released 2016 pay data from TransparentNevada.com.
The $1,040,001 and $1,024,513 compensation packages received by Professor Kayvan Khiabani and Michael Scheidler, respectively, were the largest of the more than 130,000 state and local Nevada government workers surveyed.
Excluding the University and hospital systems, the largest Northern Nevada compensation package went to former Reno city manager Andrew Clinger, with severance pay boosting his total pay and benefits to $430,625.
After Clinger, the next highest compensated Northern Nevada government workers were:
Carson City fire captain triples salary with OT, benefits
The tenth highest paid Northern Nevada government worker, excluding the University and hospital systems, was Carson City fire captain Matthew Donnelly. Despite a posted maximum salary of $87,300, Donnelly received $288,970 in compensation last year, boosted in large part by an $110,217 overtime (OT) payout — the 7th largest OT payout of the more than 130,000 state and local Nevada government workers surveyed last year.
The disparity between posted salary schedules and the total compensation actually received by government workers is one reason why Transparent Nevada is so important, according to NPRI transparency director Robert Fellner.
“TransparentNevada.com provides taxpayers with a complete accounting of the costs they are required to pay for.”
After Donnelly’s $110,217 OT payout, the next highest OT payouts received by Northern Nevada government workers went to:
To view the entire dataset in a searchable and downloadable format, please visit TransparentNevada.com.
Total compensation is defined as total wages plus the employer-cost of health and retirement benefits.
For more information or to schedule an interview with NPRI, please contact Robert Fellner at 702-222-0642 or RF@npri.org.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Robert Fellner, 702-222-0642
Cashing in unused leave for amounts equal to or greater than a year’s salary helped boost the combined compensation packages for three Southern Nevada Water Authority employees to over $1,000,000 last year, according to just-released salary data posted on TransparentNevada.com.
Today, the Nevada Policy Research Institute updated its public pay database with 2016 data for over 75,000 Nevada state and local government workers. The data provides insight to how, exactly, government agencies are spending taxpayer dollars on compensation.
“Astronomical” unused leave payouts
The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) had some of the largest unused leave payouts of any agency surveyed, with several employees cashing out unused leave in amounts greater than an entire year’s salary.
“In the private sector, being able to accumulate and cash in such astronomical amounts of unused leave is virtually unheard of,” commented NPRI Transparency Director Robert Fellner.
The data reveals that these unused leave payouts — reported under “other pay” on the Transparent Nevada website — boosted the combined compensation package of three SNWA employees to over $1,000,000 last year.
The ability to accumulate and cash in unused leave in excess of a year’s salary wasn’t limited to the SNWA.
“It’s a pattern we’ve identified throughout local government agencies across the state,” said Fellner.
Employees at the cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas, for example, were also able to cash in on the perk:
Henderson Fire Chief pulls in over $400,000 for one week of work
This ability to accumulate and cash-in such large amounts of unused leave has resulted in massive payouts right before retirement — as is evidenced by Henderson Fire Chief Goble. After just 7 days of employment in 2016, Chief Goble collected $239,309 in total compensation, nearly all of which came from cashing in unused leave. Goble then immediately began drawing a $141,000 pension, while continuing to work full-time in the private sector.
Fellner noted that this is yet another example of how the state retirement system has dramatically exceeded the legislatively stated purpose to provide a “reasonable base income” for those no longer able to work.
“Few taxpayers are ever afforded the opportunity to cash in such large amounts of unused leave and begin collecting a six-figure pensions for life — all while still in the prime of their working career!”
To view the entire dataset in a searchable and downloadable format, please visit TransparentNevada.com.
Total compensation is defined as total pay plus the employer-cost of health and retirement benefits.
For more information or to schedule an interview with NPRI, please contact Robert Fellner at 702-222-0642 or RF@npri.org.
###
For Immediate Release
Contact Michael Schaus, 702-222-0642
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Policy Research Institute’s Center for Justice and Constitutional Litigation has filed suit against Republican State Senator Heidi Gansert, for violation of Nevada’s constitutional Separation of Powers clause.
Representing plaintiff Doug French, CJCL filed the suit Tuesday morning, alleging Gansert is in violation of Article 3, Section 1 of Nevada’s State Constitution. Mr. French seeks the position currently held by Ms. Gansert at the Nevada System of Higher Education.
“Gansert’s continued employment in the state’s executive branch, as Executive Director of External Relations for the University of Nevada, Reno, puts her in direct violation of Nevada’s Separation of Powers clause, now that she is also serving in the state senate” explained CJCL Director Joseph Becker.
“As a senator, she can simply not continue her employment in the executive branch without violating this clearly worded constitutional provision.”
It’s a violation that was also recognized by now-Governor Brian Sandoval back in 2004, when he wrote in an Attorney General Advisory Opinion that the “Nevada Constitution bars any employee from serving in the executive branch of government and serving as a member of the Nevada State Legislature.” (Emphasis added).
The reason for this Separation of Powers provision is simple, according to Becker. It was designed to preserve the independence and integrity of each branch. Having a legislator make decisions that might directly benefit the position they hold in another branch of government creates a clear conflict of interest.
In fact, this conflict seems especially demonstrable in the case of Gansert. One headline in the Reno Gazette Journal, for example, described her election to the Senate as a “windfall for higher education.” After Gansert announced her intention to run for the senate, there was no shortage of speculation that her current role at the University would result in her moving forward legislative priorities that would benefit her executive branch employer.
“This is the exact type of scenario the constitutional provision was designed to prevent in the first place,” explained Becker, “where a sitting executive branch employee uses their elected position in the legislative body to lobby for other branches of the government.”
Article 3, Section 1 — the separation-of-powers clause in Nevada's constitution — reads:
The powers of the Government of the State of Nevada shall be divided into three separate departments,—the Legislative,—the Executive and the Judicial; and no persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any functions, appertaining to either of the others… [Emphasis added.]
“As Sandoval’s 2004 Attorney General Advisory Opinion demonstrates, this is a longstanding problem in Nevada government,” said Becker. “The provision is an important check on government power and corruption — unfortunately, it has been long ignored by members of both political parties.”
Click here for the filed complaint.
###
For Immediate Release
Contact Michael Schaus, 702-222-0642
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Policy Research Institute is welcoming the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada’s (PERS) decision to appeal a recent District Court ruling that forced the agency to hand over public retiree payout data to the Institute.
“The truth is, the trial court’s decision could have, and should have, been better for future transparency efforts,” explained Joseph Becker, director of NPRI’s Center for Justice and Constitutional Litigation. “Hopefully the Supreme Court will set an even stronger precedent for transparency among government agencies.”
District Judge James Wilson of the First Judicial District in late January ruled that PERS must obey the Nevada Public Records Act and provide the state records NPRI had requested.
When NPRI had made the request in 2015, PERS replied that it was now unable to provide the same information, which included names, because it had changed its internal documents to replace retiree names with Social Security numbers, which are by law redacted from public reports. (Read more about the case here.)
The change had been made by PERS after being ordered by the Nevada Supreme Court in 2013 to release the records in question to the policy institute.
Following last month’s Wilson ruling that the agency provide NPRI with records in the original form, with names, the agency announced it would appeal — stating that reattaching the names to the report would essentially be creating “a new record,” and is therefore not required under Nevada law.
The agency’s decision to appeal, said Becker, presents an opportunity for the state Supreme Court to establish precedent regarding the actual scope of Nevada’s public records law.
“At issue here is whether or not PERS is really ‘creating a new record’ by simply compiling easily accessible data or existing reports that it already has on hand,” he explained.
“In today’s digital age, it seems ridiculous that an agency could avoid compliance with public information laws by simply altering the reports it creates internally,” he added.
The agency’s history of stonewalling on this issue is well documented, according to Nevada Policy Research Institute Transparency Director Robert Fellner
“Unfortunately, such blatant disregard for public oversight has been a recurring theme at PERS,” commented Fellner. “PERS has lost in District Court, then at the Nevada Supreme Court, then unsuccessfully lobbied the legislature, then lost yet again at the District Court — and now it believes it can further delay disclosure by appealing.”
###
For Immediate Release
Contact Michael Schaus
702-222-0642; 303-570-8052 (Cell)
CARSON CITY, NV — Hundreds of parents are heading to Nevada’s capitol this week, to dramatize their support for National School Choice Week.
In anticipation of the rally being held on Wednesday in Carson City, Nevada Policy Research Institute Communications Director Michael Schaus issued the following statement:
The support parents have shown for these Silver State events — not to mention the overwhelming support we’ve seen demonstrated by the more than 8,000 parents who’ve signed up for Education Savings Accounts — should send a clear signal to lawmakers ahead of the 2017 legislative session:
Parents want real choice.
For decades, politicians have used the public education system to pander to its special interests and, with that support, get themselves re-elected. But these political games have come at a great cost to all Nevadans: parents, taxpayers and — most importantly — our youth.
It’s time we empower families, rather than a chronically underperforming system, to pursue the best education possible for our future generations. It’s time Nevada’s Legislature keeps the promise it made to Nevada families in 2015, when it passed the most sweeping and inclusive educational choice program in nation: Education Savings Accounts.
However, these rallies aren’t only about Nevada’s appetite for ESAs. They speak about all choice — including charter schools, homeschooling and tax scholarships. After all, for parents, school choice isn’t really about state budgets, political infighting or the horse-trading done by lobbyists in Carson City. Parents care about one thing: Their child’s future.
That’s what school choice, of any kind, is all about.
###
Sign up for Nevada Policy’s weekly emails to stay up to date on the most pressing issues facing Nevada today.