Two bills for DA and sheriff pay raises introduced, county pay bill coming

District attorneys and sheriffs would get pay raises totaling more than 25 percent under two pieces of legislation introduced on the opening day of the 2003 Legislature.

A broader bill that includes similar raises for clerks, treasurers and other county officials will be introduced within a week or so.

Andrew List of the Nevada Association of Counties said the raises may look large, but that all they do is "catch up" to what the average private sector worker has been granted since lawmakers last approved pay hikes for county officials.

That was eight years ago.

Association Director Bob Hatfield worked throughout the 2001 Legislature in support of a bill giving the officials moderate raises. He said at the time low pay was discouraging some highly qualified candidates from seeking county office because they couldn't afford the cut in their income.

That bill was in the final stages of passage when it got caught by mandatory deadlines in the final days of the 2001 session and died. Gov. Kenny Guinn refused to put the measure on the agenda for the 2001 special session, leaving county elected officials at the same pay rates they have had since 1995.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, introduced AB28, which would take care of district attorneys and sheriffs. The pay raises total about 27 percent and would be retroactive to Jan. 6. That means the public officials sworn in to office this year would get the raises.

SB53, introduced Monday in the Senate, is identical.

If approved, it would increase Carson City District Attorney Noel Waters from $72,360 a year to $98,707 and Sheriff Kenny Furlong from $60,000 to $81,846 annually.

Those same pay rates would apply in Douglas, Lyon, Elko, Humboldt and Nye counties.

In Washoe County, the district attorney's pay would increase from $96,000 to $137,484 and the sheriff's salary from $78,000 to $110,632.

Clark County's district attorney would be paid $155,744 a year instead of $100,800 and the sheriff $134,262 instead of $84,000.

The lowest county salaries for elected officials are in the state's smallest counties -- including Storey and Mineral. There, the district attorney's salary would increase from $60,300 to $82,256 and the sheriff's from $43,200 to $58,929. Eureka, Lincoln and Pershing counties are also in that pay range.

Alone at the bottom of the scale is Esmeralda, where the $47,880 the district attorney now gets would increase to $65,314 and the sheriff's pay would go from $38,400 to $52,382.

All those increases are in the 27 percent range and List said the Nevada Association of Counties-backed bill will propose the same percentage increase for other county officials as well.

The measures were sent to the Assembly and Senate government affairs committees for review.