Existing law sets forth the annual compensation to be paid to county commissioners and certain elected county officers, including district attorneys, sheriffs, county clerks, county assessors, county recorders, county treasurers and public administrators. (NRS 245.043) Section 1 of this bill sets the base amount of compensation of elected county officers for: (1) Fiscal Year 2025-2026 as 3 percent higher than the highest salary of an employee under the supervision of the elected officer that was in effect on January 1, 2025; and (2) each fiscal year thereafter as 3 percent higher than the highest salary of an employee under the supervision of the elected officer that has been approved by the board of county commissioners. Section 1 also eliminates the authority of the board of county commissioners to determine not to pay the increased salary for all elected county officers if the financial resources of the county are not available to pay the increased salaries in that fiscal year. Section 1 further: (1) establishes the amount of the annual salaries for county commissioners for Fiscal Year 2025-2026; and (2) provides that for the 5 fiscal years following Fiscal Year 2025-2026, each county commissioner is entitled to an increase in the amount of his or her annual salary of 3 percent per fiscal year. Section 5 of this bill makes a conforming change to provide that the Mayor of Carson City is entitled to the amount of compensation set forth in section 1. Existing law prohibits, with certain exceptions, district attorneys in every county except a county in classification 6 of the table of annual salaries (currently Esmeralda County) from engaging in the private practice of law. (NRS 245.0435, 252.060) Section 1 eliminates the table and related classifications and sections 2 and 4 of this bill replace references to the classifications to apply the exception to a county whose population is less than 3,000 (currently Esmeralda and Eureka Counties). Sections 3 and 6-10 of this bill make conforming changes to account for the change in how compensation for elected county officers is determined in section 1. Sections 11 and 12 of this bill require the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Government Affairs to conduct certain studies during the 2025-2026 and 2027-2028 interims concerning county commissions.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 245.043, 245.0435, 245.044, 252.060