Lyon County Board of Commissioners OK tentative budget without employee cuts

After years of cuts and layoffs Lyon County has seen an increase in funding and balanced a budget with no cuts of employees. In the past several years the County has eliminated 120 positions, a 30 percent workforce reduction.

The budget was prepared and presented by the Lyon County Manager and Lyon County Comptroller on April 2, 2014. The Comptroller presented highlights of the past revenues, expenditures, and the current budget. The proposed budget and budget presentation can be found on the county website here.

The Board of Commissioners approved the tentative budget and will take action on the final budget on May 19. The budget includes no increased fees or taxes.

The proposed budget included:
An increase in the fee paid to the Northern Nevada Development Authority of $25,000 for a total of $50,000 for FY 2015.

Salary Changes:
Budget is built with a merit included for all applicable employees, including Commissioners.
— 2013-2014 had no merit for any employees.
— 2012-2013 had merit for only the Lyon County Sheriff’s Employees Association.

A Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of 1 percent is available in the budget at the Board’s discretion.

The last COLA approved was July 1, 2008. The money set aside in the budget for a COLA could also be used to more fully fund the Vehicle Acquisition Fund, which has had $178,000 moved to the General Fund in prior years.

County Manager Salary
The Comptroller recommended that the Board increase the County Manager Salary for the following reasons:
— Our County Manager is currently below minimum for the pay range.
— Douglas and Carson City’s pay range starts at $140,000.

The budget includes changing this salary to approximately match the lowest County Manager salary on transparentnevada.com for 2012 (two years prior). This is the salary for the Churchill County Manager at $107,500.

IT Director
The Comptroller recommended that the Board increase the IT Director Salary for the following reason:

In creating a new position for the IT Department, the new position that reports to the IT Director would make more than the current IT Director’s salary.

The budget adds $10,000 to the IT Director salary on July 1, 2014 to correct this.

Staffing Additions:
0.5 FTE – Sr. Admin Clerk – Clerk Treasurer
FTE - $36,522 added to Library – Staffing to be determined
1 FTE – Network Analyst – IT
1 FTE – Supervisor – Animal Services
1 FTE – Dispatcher – Dispatch
1 FTE – Deputy – Jail
1 FTE – Control Room Operator – Jail
0.4 FTE – Sr. Admin Clerk – Juvenile Probation
1 FTE – Public Works Technician – Split between Roads and Utilities

One-Time Funding:
Dayton Valley Conservation District
— $22,500 for invasive weed treatments and reseeding.
— $70,000 for channel clearing, snagging, and maintenance activity on the Carson River.

Recorder’s Office
$84,625 for scanning, filming, and binding of newspapers.

Facilities
$9,109 for a snowplow attachment to an existing truck.
$8,926 for a sander attachment to an existing truck.

Human Resources
$35,000 for a salary study.

Information Technology
$96,000 for switches, microwave radios, and fiber for networking plus SQL licensing.

Sheriff
$29,529 for 40 body cameras
$8,470 for 5 radar units.

District Court
$500,000 for murder cases. Another $500,000 is included in contingency as the courts estimated a total of $1,000,000 for these costs.

Planning
106,000 for masterplan development.

The Board also took action to increase the salaries of the Justices of the Peace by 2.5 percent and provided the Assessor’s Office with approximately an additional $6000.00 for services and supplies.