Prior to the Board of Examiners meeting Tuesday, members of the public gathered at the Nevada Law Enforcement Memorial to show support for police officers.
Faith Evans/Nevada Appeal
On a split vote, the Board of Examiners on Tuesday approved agreements with collective bargaining units that will cost the state $26 million in added pay for several categories of state workers.
The workers are all represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The agreements are with the labor, maintenance, custodial and institutional employees, the professional and other workers who provide health care and personal care services and Category III peace officers.
The agreements will provide those workers with 3 percent Cost of Living Adjustment’s retroactively for this fiscal year, costing $12.8 million, and a similar COLA for fiscal 2023 costing another $13.2 million — a total of $26 million.
In addition, they approved a separate agreement with the Nevada Police Union that will provide those officers with a 2 percent COLA and other benefits worth a total of $1.73 million over the amount included in the legislatively-approved pay bill.
The pay raises were approved under the collective bargaining law passed by the Democratic-led Nevada Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Steve Sisolak.
Mathew Kaplan, president of the police union, and Jason Jackson, a board member of the union, testified before the board that changes, including pay raises, are critical to stop the exodus of state law enforcement for higher pay and benefits from local governments across the state. They were joined by Will Dawson, a retired detective, who said it’s “imperative something be done about the turnover.”
Sisolak recently promised to include a substantial pay raise in his proposed budget for the next Legislature, also agreeing that state law enforcement officers are seriously underpaid compared with their local counterparts.
He was joined by Attorney General Aaron Ford in supporting the votes Tuesday.
But Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske voted against the pay raises.
“I was not in support of the original collective bargaining agreement,” she said. “I’m not in support of this for the unfunded cost of living allowance.”
She cast the same vote opposing the agreement with the Nevada Police Union saying that she just received a packet detailing what’s in that agreement Tuesday morning.
