Washoe County police consolidation would be pricey

RENO (AP) - When Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley talks about regionalizing local police services, his thoughts turn to a report issued after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The report cited "a lack of coordination, an inability to communicate" among police officers from various agencies in New York City, putting the public at risk, he said.

"Our job is to have a public safety system that is seamless," Haley said. "Unless and until we do that, we have not learned much."

Consolidation of police services has been debated in Washoe County over the past two decades and most likely will be reviewed when a new committee of elected local officials takes up the issue of sharing services to cut costs.

It also has emerged as the recession has put the squeeze on state and local government budgets. The Nevada Legislature is demanding a progress report on consolidation of public safety, public works and general government operations in Washoe as well as Clark counties. It's due by September 2010 so it can be reviewed before the 2011 legislative session.

Haley says two major sticking points are pay levels and who would be in charge. But he and Undersheriff Todd Vinger say those should be overcome to provide seamless law enforcement in Washoe County for major incidents and day-to-day operations.

"A deputy could be sitting in a car driving through a neighborhood when someone calls 911," Vinger said. "The call could go to a Reno officer 20 or 30 miles away while the deputy is in front of the house."

Just as for fire service, Vinger said, people don't care "what color of shirt the officer wears when they make that phone call."

Reno Police Chief Michael Poehlman said police agencies can and should collaborate better. But the issue of consolidation, he said, "has been studied to death."

The price tag has escalated since a study in 2005 showed it would cost $3.6 million to merge, which would require labor contracts that bring Reno and Washoe law enforcement officers up to the highest levels of pay and benefits contained in any of their contracts. Sparks officials have not expressed interest in merging governments or services.

Current state law for a consolidated law enforcement agency requires combining the "best of the best" of all wage increases, perks and benefits in all the labor contracts. That means the top wage of any agency involved - the best health insurance plan, the best uniform allowance - would be included in the new contract.

Under this "best of the best" or "cherry-picking" law, the added costs of merging Reno and Washoe police officers in October 2006 was estimated at $3 million by former county personnel director Steve Watson, now a county labor consultant.

But the cost would drop to $1.8 million if sheriff department employees came under the Reno contract, which overall provides better pay and benefits. That would require a change in state law so unions would pick the best contract instead of the best of all contract provisions.

The costs would be even higher if Sparks were added to a metropolitan police department under the state's current law.

Sparks pays a larger share of health insurance for its employees' families than either Reno or Washoe County. And in a merged department, former Reno and Washoe County employees would get that added benefit.

The cost stopped an effort to consolidate law enforcement in 1996 after a task force headed by University of Nevada president Joe Crowley spent a year analyzing costs.

County Commissioner John Breternitz said officials must decide whether they have the "political will to take on the cherry-picking law." If they don't, he said, there may not be any benefits to consolidating law enforcement.

Reno police associations don't support any discussions, but the Washoe deputies association is open to the idea.

"In my opinion, the statute in place is not at all taxpayer favorable," said Watson, the county's labor consultant. "It forces you to go to the absolute highest levels. When you start a new company, you get a new contract."

Howard Reynolds, county personnel director before Watson, made the same point to the Shared Services Elected Officials Committee in June. He said the law should be changed to allow officials to negotiate a new contract with labor for the combined agency.

Watson said local governments also must contend with the "whipsaw" effect of comparing wages across the state. As one agency changes its pay rates, that can be used by labor groups in other agencies to win raises.

Acting personnel director Katey Fox said the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's wages could be used in negotiations. She said Reno police salaries are 10 percent below Las Vegas police wages.

When local governments can't settle a contract with public safety unions, those contracts can be decided through binding arbitration.