furloughs

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – State Budget Director Andrew Clinger yesterday painted a bleak picture of Nevada’s next two-year spending plan, saying under current tax and spending levels every single program and agency except for education would have to be eliminated to balance the budget.

CARSON CITY – Nevada state agencies and their employees appear to have gotten the message about the budget crisis, at least as far as the accumulation of overtime is concerned.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – With Gov. Jim Gibbons dissenting, the Board of Prisons yesterday delayed action on a proposal to close Nevada State Prison, meaning it will continue to operate for at least the next several weeks.

CARSON CITY – A plan to close Nevada State Prison in phases over the next several months will be on hold for further consideration by the Board of Prison Commissioners next month, but Gov. Jim Gibbons said today that he will continue to authorize transfers of inmates for safety and security reasons.

Gov. Jim Gibbons will defend his plan to close Nevada State Prison in Carson City at a Board of Prisons meeting tomorrow afternoon, saying that they do not expect to lay off any employees.

The governor's office has provided the following talking points to defend Gibbons' decision to close NSP, which were made available to Carson Now:

Nevada State Prison in Carson City has approximately 310 full-time employees (all classifications). Of those employees, only 40 percent actually reside in Carson City. The breakdown by percentage is:

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons approved plans today to phase-out operations at the 650-inmate Nevada State Prison in Carson City.

“It costs taxpayers an extra $4,000 to $6,000 per inmate for prisoners at NSP because the facility is so old and poorly designed,” Gibbons said. “Additionally, NSP is not as safe for prison staff as other facilities.”

A proposal by Regent Mark Alden for cutting the pay of university employees to deal with the education budget cuts mandated by the legislature will be discussed during the April 16 meeting of the Board of Regents.

Facing a budget shortfall about half of what Carson City faces over the next two years, Sparks City Council members say they will cut their own pay just like they've asked city workers, including police, fire fighters and their engineers that their pay be cut 7.5% each year for the next two years. Meanwhile, Carson City Supervisors have laid down the law that there will be layoffs in both the Sheriff and Fire Departments although the deputies labor association says it would prefer furloughs or pay cuts instead. There's been no mention by the Superivsors that their own pay should be cut.

Carson City is looking at laying off up to 30 employees due to a budget shortfall caused by lower-than-expected sales tax revenues, according to a story by the Nevada Appeal.

Carson Now has learned that Sheriff Kenny Furlong met with his employees and indicated that 10 sworn officers and 16 civilian employees were facing layoffs. The sheriff and fire departments make up almost half of the city's budget.

CARSON CITY – Gov.

If there are no ability to adjust revenue, then layoffs, furloughs, salary reductions or some combination thereof will have to be in the mix to address the state budget shortfall.

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Governor Gibbons appears to be making the headlines four days out of five lately on spending, taxes, unions, education, furloughs and the list keeps getting longer.

That’s a very fair question.

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With Governor Gibbons talking state worker furloughs and pay cuts, local school districts have also been put on notice that they may have to tear up their teacher contracts