News

Highest jobless numbers

At 12.3 percent, Nevada has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, the U.S. Labor Department reported on March 30. That’s down .4 percent, but the decrease is being attributed to discouraged workers who have dropped out of the employment market.

Nevada lost 12,800 jobs last month, more than any other state, both in raw numbers and in percentage loss. Only three states have double-digit joblessness.

First dropout

Democratic U.S. House candidate Erik Holland’s candidacy lasted just 14 days. He withdrew from the race on March 26.

Four other Democratic candidates, one independent candidate, and the Independent American Party nominee, all of them relatively unknown, remain in the race for the seat now held by Mark Amodei, who is the only Republican running.

The seat, which encompasses most of the territory of Nevada but contains about a fifth of the population, has been a safe Republican seat since its creation in 1981. The latest redistricting made it somewhat more competitive Democrats when some of the small county areas were removed, but the Democrats still could not lure a major contender.

Heller’s mantra

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada has been using a mantra of “big government, big business, and big unions” to encapsulate his something-for-everyone philosophy, but the numbers do not show the equivalence he suggests. Labor is not in the same power league with government and business.

Figures last year showed there are just 14.7 million union members in the United States. That was only 11.7 percent of the workforce, a 70-year low. In 2009 it was 12.3 percent. In 1983 it was 20.1 percent.

Sandoval gets seven words

Since he took office, there have been rumors that Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval—or his staff—has been positioning him for the vice presidency. Many times, it has been used as a rationale to explain some of the governor’s curious decisions.

On March 30, the Great Mentioner (as the late columnist Russell Baker termed him/her) took notice. This appeared in the Washington Post:

“Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) for vice president?”

That’s it. The whole thing. It appeared in a column by Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake. There was no additional context preceding or following it. It should perhaps be noted that this is the same Cillizza who once wrote a piece about a statewide race in Nevada that contained the phrase “aside from Clark County.”

Shifting funds

Local governments meeting jointly this week said they wanted to increase funding to senior citizen services, which are hurting.

The discussion came afer a funding discussion of animal control and the comparison was not lost on anyone. “We voted three cents for animals but only one cent for the seniors,” Sparks City Councilmember Julia Ratti said.

That, of course, suggested a remedy—shifting money from animals to seniors, which Sparks Councilmember Mike Carrigan proposed. The three cent property tax rate for animal control was approved by voters, so tampering with that formula is touchy. In addition, in a time when local governments circle each other suspiciously, if the animal control funding is lowered a cent, that would allow each local government to use that cent as they choose.

Reno Councilmember David Aiazzi suggested an informal agreement in which the county commission shifts the money and the cities agree not to grab it. Or the shift could be put on the ballot.

No final decision was reached on which approach to use. —Dennis Myers

County financial consultant Mary Walker answers questions from Reno City Councilmember David Aiazzi. Listening, to her left, are County Manager Katy Simon and City Manager Andrew Clinger.

Playing with fire

Face to face talks between city and county change nothing

A long awaited joint meeting of the Reno City Council and the Washoe County by Commission on the county’s plan Dennis Myers to deconsolidate fire services fizzled out Monday. The meeting, held after several requests by the city, turned out not to have everything on the table—and certainly not the county’s decision to end consolidated services. The meeting ended with a vague plan to have the staffs meet jointly to plan cooperation in advance of another joint meeting—and that meeting may not even take place. “And if there isn’t anything to talk about, we won’t meet,” County Commissioner John Breternitz said at the end of the Monday session. The city offered ideas for cooperation and the county offered its own, but they kept running up against the county’s implacable determination to deconsolidate fire services. County commissioners said they were willing to work with the city, but only after deconsolidation, not as a way to prevent it. The fire issue was the last item on the meeting agenda. First the Reno and Washoe governing bodies, joined by the Sparks City Council, went through five less contentious items, though tension was just below the surface. The tone of the debate on the first item, on flood control, is indicated by a statement from Sparks Councilmember Ron Smith after comments by Reno Councilmember David Aiazzi: “I’m not going to let Mr. Aiazzi get away with some of the things he’s been saying.” Later items were less touchy and even lighthearted, particularly when the sound of a car horn for some reason kept beeping over the public address system.

“I want nothing to do with your labor agreement.”

David Humke Washoe County Commissioner

The city and county have been sparring for a year over the county’s planned withdrawal from consolidated fire services. Eleven years ago, county and city consolidated fire services, with the city handling actual administration of the new system. That dominant role for the city was the subject of 2009-2011 city/county talks that did not produce satisfaction for the county. On June 28, 2011, the county commission voted to break away.

City officials always seemed to hold out hope that the commission majority on the issue—four of the five commissioners—could be convinced to change their minds. Meanwhile, at least one outlying area is exploring annexation to the city, which would further reduce county revenue in a recession.

Afew days before the meeting, Reno Mayor Robert Cashell suggested the county was trying to break the firefighters union and said the city had no interest in joining such an effort. Nothing at the joint meeting indicated Cashell was wrong. The county has been critical of requirements for four-person fire crews and wants them changed.

“With all due respect, I want nothing to do with your labor agreement,” County Commissioner David Humke said at one point. “When will the city be free of their agreement?” he asked on another occasion.

When the county talked about the need to be in control of all financial elements of the fire protection process, City Councilmember David Aiazzi asked, “What expenditures does the county not control?”

“Labor negotiations, sir,” said county financial consultant Mary Walker.

After more discussion about the county’s ability to plan, Aiazzi asked the question again. Walker replied, “The labor costs, which are about 80 percent.” Aiazzi responded, “But you know the labor costs, which [under the contract] are not going up.”

Deconsolidation brought to the fore intramural disagreements within fire protection. Fire volunteer Lea Wobbe caustically told the two governing boards she was tired of hearing what firefighters will lose under deconsolidation.

“We are losing having our equipment in the shop for weeks and weeks and having nothing done on it because the union will not let the mechanics work on volunteer equipment unless it is on overtime and overtime has been eliminated,” she said. “We are being paged anywhere from three to five minutes after the initial tone went out for the career staff.”

During the public comment period several businesspeople and a carpenters union were represented by construction company president Perry DiLoreto, who said the most important issue in the dispute was acrimony between the competing sides. “Are we in this together or are we not in this together? … There should be no reasonable expectation that good decisions will come out of abrasive and caustic behavior. We are sorry to say that what we are witnessing is not sound political leadership but rather open hostility and confidence-shattering behavior.” He said consolidation should be retained and county grievances addressed in a new agreement.

Retired firefighter Steve Perez said, “I find it ironic that the city of Reno is upset, because they are being asked to provide fire/medical coverage in a couple of areas they are not receiving taxes in. Sierra Fire provided fire and paramedic coverage to both Reno and Truckee Meadow areas without compensation for some seven years due to Reno’s ‘cherry picking’ annexation policy.”

City Councilmembers said repeatedly that the county was overestimating its ability to get a better deal with a separate fire department and that the county’s view of the union is flawed. Reno Councilmember Pierre Hascheff said, “You have a declining revenue base in Truckee Meadows and Sierra Fire.” These are sectors the county will take over in deconsolidation.

Aiazzi said the firefighters have “already agreed to take a 12 percent cut.”

Cashell later said the union has given up about $4 million over the last two years.

Councilmember Dan Gustin said “Their [union] leadership has taken the role of making this work for the community.” He also said the dispute was like a divorce that neither partner wants but cannot back away from.

Councilmember Sharon Zadra said the county’s expectation of better deals is like buying firefighting equipment and expecting the seller to accept less than the full price.

The county commissioners did little to advocate or defend their case, and framed their answers with deconsolidation as a premise. They did not respond to claims that fire service will be lower and more expensive and taxes higher. Breternitz, participating by telephone, said the county’s staff had been instructed to “put our Plan B into effect starting tomorrow.”

Commissioner Bonnie Weber did not really engage on the details, simply saying deconsolidation “should have been no news to anyone here. … We are moving forward with deconsolidation, or divorce.”

Toward the end of the meeting, Aiazzi’s questioning identified about $1.2 million as the amount separating city and county positions, a small amount given the overall cost of fire protection. Aiazzi offered to make a motion giving $1.2 million in service to the outlying areas, but there was no indication from the commissioners that the payment would keep consolidation intact and Cashell, referring to consolidated service, said in evident disgust, “We’re going to break this thing up and put citizens at risk for $1.2 million.”

After it became clear that the meeting was going nowhere, Oakland fire lieutenant Russell Earl, a Washoe County resident, told the governing bodies the consequences of ending consolidation, including a property tax increase and other costs for him and other county residents: “What you have not also addressed is the ISO rating [fire suppression standards]. When we go to three-person engine companies, we’ll become higher, which means every single household in this county will see a significant increase in their homeowners insurance. That hasn’t been factored in. … I can see between a 400 and 800 dollar per year increase to get a lower level of service.” Ω

“Every household will see a significant increase in homeowners insurance.”

Russell Earl Red Rock resident

Running for piñata

Why would anyone wantmunicipal office?

After years of failing to prepare for possible future recessions and in some cases of passing out corporate welfare like drunken sailors, local governments in recent months have stayed solvent through dubious interdepartmental fund transfers, reducing personnel and increasing workloads on surviving workers, default negotiations on major bonds and other such devices. To tie it all together nicely, there are very few indications of substantial economic recovery anytime soon. Voters being what they are, if the problems of local governments have not been solved four years from now, it will be the new governing bodies—not today’s—that will be blamed. So why would anyone want the jobs? Politics is nasty at any level, but at the municipal level the critics of elected officials are all around them, not hundreds or thousands of miles away from the state or national capital. Yet six people are seeking two county commission seats and 27— that’s twenty-seven—people are running for four Reno City Council seats. Candidates do seem aware that they may well be facing no-win situations in office because the problems are so deep and wide that they may not be solved within their terms of office. “Not being solved is, of course, a realistic possibility because the environment is such that, you known, the economy in this market is not recovering as fast as we’d like,” County Commission candidate Marsha Berkbigler said. She and others say they are prepared for the consequences if things go badly, particularly since some of the decisions needed to solve area problems are likely to be just as unpopular as kicking the can down the road. It is surprising how many candidates say they are prepared for adverse public reaction if things go badly. They also say that their acceptance of that reality will make it easier to make those unpopular choices. “I don’t owe anybody anything,” Berkbigler said. “I own my home outright, and I’m totally

comfortable if I never worked another day in my life. I don’t have to worry about it so I’m not in a by position where I need the job or I need any job.” Dennis Myers “Who knows?” said Reno City Council candidate Michael Trudeau. “I may not be elected in four years, if I get elected, because of the tough choices that need to be made.” “This isn’t a career for me,” said Reno Council candidate David Ward. “I’m 61 years old. ... So for me this is public service. It’s not a career. I don’t even know what the job pays, and I don’t care.” “I’m retiring at the end of the year. The people I’ve met as a planning commissioner, they’re all reasonable people,” said City Council candidate Dennis Romeo. “And I think in the next couple of years we can resolve some of these problems. You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.” Several candidates used the term “thick skinned” to describe themselves. County commissions do seem to have a bit more shielding against public anger than city councils. There’s nothing like city hall as a target. The candidates seem to have some recognition of this—when asked as they filed their candidacies whether they want to have contact information posted on the county election website for the public, five of the six county commission candidates did so. Only two of the 27 Reno council candidates did so. Candidates at both levels say it’s specifically because the problems are so serious that they want the jobs. “Well, I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to make our city better, and I don’t think the blame gam—I don’t think there’s a place for that in successful politics of making it better, so if people are going to blame me, that’s their right, but I’m work hard to make sure that we get things fixed,” said Reno Council candidate Kathleen Taylor. “Someone’s going to be making these tough choices in the next four years, and I don’t want to delegate my decision making to someone that I don’t feel has the same business background and experience that I have,” Trudeau said. “And I believe that I will be able to make those tough choices.” “This is my home,” Ward said. “And I think Reno has some huge problems, and we need to elect some people who care deeply about it that are consensus builders, that can have some success in bringing back our economy.” Ω

PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS

Reno City Council candidate Michael Trudeau chats with voters. Standing behind him is candidate Dennis Romeo.

“The economy in this market is not recovering as fast as we’d like.”

Marsha Berkbigler County commission candidate