Four-day work week for state workers a possibility in budget cuts

CARSON CITY -- A four-day workweek and a reduction of state agency spending by 10 percent are two of the ways Gov. Jim Gibbons wants to cut spending by $871 million and balance state government's budget.

Gibbons has talked about a shorter workweek for state employees several times over the past month, but this is the first time he has indicated he is recommending it to the Legislature.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, last week expressed support for starting a four-day workweek in some state agencies.

The idea first surfaced during a special session of the Legislature in 2008 but was rejected because lawmakers thought it wouldn't save enough money.

The plan would not include the Department of Motor Vehicles. And it would not include teachers, who are paid with state funds but not considered state workers.

Gibbons will announce his reduction recommendations at 10:30 a.m. today when he issues the proclamation that calls the Legislature into a special session that will start Feb. 23.

Gibbons also is recommending that almost all state employees, including corrections workers, be required to take an unpaid 10-hour furlough day each month, said Dan Burns, the governor's communications director.

Gibbons will recommend legislators cut the budgets of most state agencies, including public schools and the Nevada System of Higher Education, by 10 percent.

Burns said Gibbons will not propose closing state parks or try to use local government and school district construction money for the state's shortfall.

The Nevada Constitution requires a balanced state budget. Because of falling tax revenue, the governor and legislators must cut state spending by 20 percent between March and the end of the state's two-year budget cycle on June 30, 2011.

Gibbons and Horsford have pledged that no taxes will be increased during the special session.

The Legislature's Interim Finance Committee will hold a meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas and the Legislative Building in Carson City to discuss the cuts and other ways to reduce spending.

Burns said Gibbons could change his cut list in coming days and even during the special session if better ideas for reducing spending materialize. The idea of a four-day workweek was suggested by several state employees.

"The governor doesn't care where a good idea comes from," Burns said. "People are frustrated. The governor will listen."

Gibbons also intends to make sure all companies with stores in Nevada are paying sales taxes when they sell items over the Internet to state residents.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision requires the payments. Sales taxes, however, cannot be collected on Internet sales when a company selling items does not have a store in Nevada.

While most companies are paying sales taxes where required, Burns said, the governor wants to make sure that those not remitting taxes now do so in the future.

The governor also will ask legislators to consider his education package, which includes doing away with the requirements for full-day kindergarten and class-size reduction, temporarily lifting collective bargaining rights and changing a law that prevents Nevada from applying for Race to the Top federal grants.

Gibbons wants to give school districts the option of determining for themselves how they would spend state appropriations. But Burns said Gibbons is not counting on saving money for the state through the education proposals.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.