retirement

CARSON CITY – Teachers who are pursuing a master’s degree will not receive any extra pay for it under Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget.
Those currently enrolled teachers may have entered their programs envisioning a pay bump upon graduation. But they made a bet, and the governor’s proposed budget would leave them on the losing side of what has long been regarded as a safe gamble.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval is seeking significant changes to Nevada’s public employee pension plan in the 2011 legislative session to reduce the ongoing and long-term financial cost of the benefit to the state and taxpayers.
But if he wants fundamental change, he might look to the state university system’s retirement plan for faculty.

CARSON CITY – Teachers could forfeit portions of their salaries awarded for obtaining masters of doctorate degrees under a new proposal.
In what could amount to a pay cut, Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed eliminating that type of compensation in favor of $20 million in performance pay.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval will propose a change to the retirement system for new state employees that would reduce their current pension benefits by one half and cut the long-term liability for taxpayers by the same amount, his chief of staff said today.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A new study shows support for Gov. Brian Sandoval’s plan to implement President Barack Obama’s national health care reform law.

I watched from the gallery as Sen. Harry Reid called for an end to legal prostitution in his speech to the Nevada Legislature yesterday.

This part of the speech got wide coverage all over the world, overshadowing everything else he said. But there is one thing you should know. This was all an act, political theater that will have no effect on anything. So for all you folks riled up by this issue, just settle down and enjoy the show.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Freshman Republican state Sen. Michael Roberson got a lot of people’s attention last week when he engaged in a brief but spirited line of questioning at a Judiciary Committee hearing with mining industry lobbyists.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada fares well among the states in a new report that includes unfunded public pension liabilities as part of overall state debt.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
Gov. Brian Sandoval has appointed a veteran administrator to keep up the fight against placing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Southern Nevada.
Joseph C. Strolin, formerly a planning division administrator for the Agency for Nuclear Projects, has agreed to be acting director of the agency until the governor can find a permanent director.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
Retired state Sen. Bill Raggio said in an interview aired today that he does not favor granting local governments complete home rule because of the potential for tax disparities between more affluent communities and those with fewer resources.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval’s staff today clarified that the proposed five percent salary reductions announced yesterday includes teachers and higher-education employees.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
Retiring Sen. Bill Raggio today criticized the governor’s “rigid stance” in holding fast to a promise not to raise taxes. While stopping short of saying he would support raising taxes, he did say that increases may be likely despite the governor’s pledges to the contrary.

Carl Kuhl, a state Parole and Probation employee of six years, has created a plan that he claims will eliminate Nevada's budget deficit within two years.

In a news release issued on Tuesday, Kuhl said his plan not only will reduce the budget deficit but also help repair Nevada's economy at the same time. It is a pretty big claim, he admits, coming from an Accounting Assistant I, an entry level position.

In an apparent move to increase the transparency of his administration, Gov. Brian Sandoval released today the annual salaries of his staff. His 17 staff positions, one of which is vacant, consume about $1 million of the governor’s executive budget.
His highest paid employee, Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert, will earn $124,988 this year. The lowest paid, Celia Magana, is an administrative assistant in Las Vegas earning $29,984.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
State Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, announced his retirement today, ending a 38-year career in the state Senate.
He released a statement this morning making his resignation effective Jan. 15, 2011, citing mobility problems as the chief reason for his retirement. He said the time has come for him to “step aside” and make way for someone “who can give the position a 100 percent effort.”

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada policy makers remain divided over the need to make a fundamental change to the public employees’ retirement system following the release last week of a report showing significant costs to move to a defined contribution plan.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The panel that oversees Nevada’s public employee retirement system was told today it would cost about $1.2 billion over the next two years to change from the current defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan for new state and local government workers.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Long-time Nevada tax expert Carole Vilardo said says she does not see how the state can move Nevada’s public employee retirement system to a defined contribution plan in the upcoming legislative session.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons today announced the retirement of Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Jerry Hafen. Hafen is a life-long resident of Clark County and was appointed to the top job at the agency in early 2008.
He will step down Dec. 31.
“Jerry Hafen has proven to be a respected leader in law enforcement in Nevada and I am proud of his accomplishments as DPS Director,” Gibbons said. “Jerry has proven time and again that the safety of the citizens of Nevada is his top priority.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons announced today the retirement of Information Technology Director Dan Stockwell after 47 years in the field, including 14 years with the state of Nevada.
“I consider Dan Stockwell a consummate professional and a good friend,” Gibbons said. “He can be proud of his service to the citizens of Nevada.”
“I would like to thank all of wonderful public service professionals I have worked with over the years with the State of Nevada,” Stockwell said. “We have truly laid the foundation for a bright future for our state.”

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Newly named state Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness is adding his name to the list of Nevada policy makers who believe the state retirement system needs major change to head off a growing unfunded liability.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s public employee retirement system will require increased contributions from the state and local governments next year to maintain the long-term financial health of the defined benefit plan, the board overseeing the program was told today.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The state Assembly’s Democratic Caucus failed to disclose more than $120,000 in donations from its own members earlier this year, but a Democratic leader says they weren’t legally required to do so.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The neighborhoods of this capital city and the Washoe Valley just to the north are ground zero for one of the most fiercely contested state legislative races in Nevada this year.
Potentially at stake is the makeup of the 42-member Assembly and whether Democrats can sustain their dominance of the lower house with a 28-member, veto-proof majority.

CARSON CITY – An investigation into the conduct of the former executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, sought by a state lawmaker after questions were raised about salary increases he awarded himself on the job, remains unresolved after more than two years.
A Nevada News Bureau public records request sent to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office generated a brief response saying the matter regarding Bob Loux was still under investigation and no information was available for release.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Long-time Nevada resident Art Cooke says he is now officially a disenfranchised voter.
After voting in every primary and general election in Carson City for a decade, Cooke sold his Bodie Drive home and became a full-time recreational vehicle resident upon retirement five years ago. Cooke and his wife Rita spend time out-of-state every year, wintering in Yuma, Ariz. and visiting other states in their luxury recreational vehicle.

June Joplin has become a fixture in Carson City ever since she opened Comma Coffee 10 years ago. She often sends out e-mails about what’s going on at Coma Coffee, and we usually just pick up what’s coming up there. But this week she offered some personal thoughts that I thought we should share with all of you. So here’s her e-mail. Read and enjoy.

By June Joplin

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s public employee pension system earned a rate of return above its 8 percent target last fiscal year, but the long-term unfunded liability is still expected to see an increase when an analysis is presented this fall.

By now, you have probably heard about the fiasco in Bell, Calif., where city officials were being paid outrageous salaries while cutting services and raising taxes.

When the manager of a city of 36,000 residents takes home almost $800,000 a year, that's going to raise some eyebrows. And how did he and other city executives get these salaries? The elected officials in Bell gave it to them, along with $100,000 annual salaries for themselves, for their part-time jobs.

By Andrew Barbano
Longtime Nevada labor leader Danny Coyle died of cancer in Carson City early Saturday morning, July 17. He was 74 years old.
At the time of his death, he was president of the retiree chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4041/AFL-CIO, an organization he founded. He was concurrently legislative vice-chair of the Nevada Alliance for Retired Americans. He had also served as president of AFSCME Local 4041/AFL-CIO.