A new report from the Nevada Policy Research Institute is shedding light on Las Vegas city salaries that are being paid for by you and your tax dollars.
Last year, the Las Vegas City Council granted city manager Elizabeth Fretwell a $38,500 bonus which bumped her pay to $323,875.
Robert Fellner with the NPRI says, “not only does the Las Vegas city manager make more than any other city manager in Nevada, she makes much more than many city managers in California like San Jose and San Francisco. So it was actually pretty shocking, particularly San Francisco was pretty shocking.”
By comparison, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval’s salary last year was just under $149,000.
8 News Now reached out to the city of Las Vegas which released this information about city manager Fretwell’s salary breakdown. Her base salary was $260,041.92. In addition to that, she sold back paid vacation time she had accrued for a total of $23,772.56. She also received a $1,500 health and wellness reimbursement and bonus pay of $38,561, according to city officials.
A study showed that she was dramatically underpaid when compared to other city managers across the country. In addition, there were some gender equity issues where she was also underpaid in comparison with her male counterparts. Fellner says, “everyone deserves more money when they’re working hard, but when you’re spending other people’s money you say is this fair? Is it fair to take from other people who are making much less?”
Las Vegas city officials also say that pay raises are based on a fiscal year schedule that starts July 1. So this year, Fretwell will be getting a raise on her base salary of an additional $3,460.