FOX5 Vegas - KVVUValley cities defending huge public employee paychecks

Valley cities defending huge public employee paychecks

There's more fallout from the release of salaries paid with your tax dollars. The cities that pay what many consider to be exorbitant amounts are defending those figures.

The city of Henderson tells FOX5 it had to make a payout in excess of $600,000, for instance, to save you money.

The numbers are jaw-dropping.

$792,834 paid to James Jackson by the city of North Las Vegas.

$348,140 paid to director of leisure Billie Bastian from the city of Las Vegas.

$629,430 paid to city clerk Monica Simmons by the city of Henderson.

The numbers from 2010 were made public this week by TransparentNevada.

Henderson says the payout to Simmons is atypical, actually in large part representative of money paid for early retirement. The city says that saves taxpayers money. So, what you're seeing is Simmons' salary plus severance pay.

Henderson went on to say it also includes sick leave and vacation time accumulated over 31 years.

FOX5 was given similar explanations by the cities of North Las Vegas and Las Vegas.

One taxpayer we spoke with Wednesday suggested the money could be put to better use by hiring more people. For $792,000 you could hire about 22 teachers at entry-level salaries or 15 rookie police officers.

Although the municipalities say they're trying to save tax dollars, they still allow large payouts which include 100 percent of sick leave.

North Las Vegas says it's trying to phase out all that sick leave pay for union employees but will continue to allow it for employees who have been with the city for more than 10 years until 2014.

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