LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The 32-year-old building sitting behind Henderson City Hall needs improvements, but a recently approved tenth budget increase is spurring questions of strategic priorities and efficiency.
Henderson City Council voted on Dec. 19, 2023, to increase the budget for the improvement of the Henderson Emergency Services Facility which city staff said is necessary to continue functionality.
“This change order is for necessary renovations to the Emergency Services Building,” city staff wrote in a statement. “This building was constructed in 1992 and housed both police and fire operations. As the City has grown, the building’s needs have evolved.”
However, following the vote 8 News Now learned it was the tenth time the budget had been increased and was over the initial budget by $2.1 million.
“The current design intent is to accommodate the current needs of our police department and update several areas such as HVAC, electrical, audio/video, and other basic infrastructure,” Henderson city staff wrote. “Which is dated, or has worn down.”
8 News Now requested city documents regarding the project and found the most recent million-dollar request was for further design review and a series of preliminary planning phases—the construction budget has not yet been approved.
City of Henderson Emergency Services Facility Improvement, tenth increase approved Dec. 19, 2023
Schematic Design $219,300
Design Development $275,500
Construction Docs $401,600
Agency Processing $21,800
Total $918,200*
*$90,000 was added to incorporate additional fees, full sum is $1,008,200.
The general contractor for the project, SHF International, and the architect, TSK Architecture, submitted the budget increase request with the plan to start construction on Oct. 29, 2024, with a completion date of Oct. 10, 2025.
The project was initially approved by Henderson City Council on May 5, 2020, and financing is taken from the Municipal Facilities Fund.
The City of Henderson responded to 8 News Now as to what the improvement project is, but not as to why it has taken four years to continue reviews and over the initial budget by over $2 million.
8 News Now requested to take a tour of the Emergency Services Facility but the City of Henderson Police Department declined the request citing security concerns and instead allowed video to be taken of the building’s lobby which did not show any apparent issues.
“We got to talk economics”
Down the street from the Emergency Services Facility Shawn Thibeault, President of the Henderson Police Officers Association, did not deny the building is aging but questioned the strategic priorities of the city.
“They would be better served if you took that money and you were to pay your officers an amount of money that is has at least parity with the other agencies, similar size agencies here in the valley,” Thibeault said. “I think that the prioritization of that money could be done better and could go towards our police officers’ salaries and equipment in order to do the job.”
Henderson Mayor Michelle Romero confirmed during a “Morning Meet Ups” event with residents last month that police officers did see an increase in their salaries in June, which she noted will be followed by the reopening of contracts when it is in cycle sometime next year.
“We did collaboratively come to an agreement,” Thibeault said. “We were able to bring that up a little bit by chopping off the three bottom steps of the hiring scale and then starting everybody at step four.”
Thibeault said the officers already at “step four” did not see an increase in their salaries and noted the need for continued contract negotiations.
“You’ve got officers that are working, you know, a lot of overtime to try to be able to make up for the for the loss that they don’t have on the on the pay scale,” he said.
The national average of police officers per thousand residents is 2.3 and Henderson stands at the average of 0.7, according to Thibeault.
Mayor Romero told residents during the July meeting she too wanted to see more police officers hired and cited current recruitment programs as being successful, stating over 70 staff had been hired in 2024 so far.
“We’re going to have to sit down with the city and talk turkey,” Thibeault said. “We got to talk economics.”
