Senate leader warns budget would put public safety at risk

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Brian Sandoval would jeopardize the safety of Nevada citizens with his plan to eliminate 45 parole and probation officers and increase the caseloads of the remaining officers, Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford said Wednesday.

"There are consequences to these budget cuts," said Horsford, D-Las Vegas. "Public safety has to be at the forefront of our decisions. I am concerned about the risk we are putting the public in."

Horsford made his comments as members of a pre-session legislative budget committee reviewed the tentative Department of Public Safety budget.

Sandoval proposes cutting the department's spending for the coming two-year budget period to $79.9 million, a 24.8 percent cut from the $106.3 million approved in 2009.

The biggest cuts are scheduled for the Parole and Probation Division.

Besides eliminating 45 officers, Sandoval also proposes turning over to counties 77 other officers who handle pre-sentencing investigations for courts. Their investigations are reviewed by judges before passing sentences.

"My folks are excellent people and can handle it," Parole and Probation Chief Bernie Curtis said about the proposed cuts. But Curtis also said his "worst nightmare" is that parolees in his agency's "administrative bank" will begin to commit crimes.

This bank consists of 1,800 parolees and probationers who seldom, if ever, are visited by a parole officer. Of the parolees in the bank, 1,400 live in Southern Nevada.

Curtis said the people in the administrative bank are those who were convicted of misdemeanors and minor felonies.

"We have done the best we can with what we have left in staff," he said.

Under Sandoval's plan, each parole officer will be assigned 80 parolees or probationers who are supposed to be interviewed at least once a month. Now there is a 70-to-1 ratio .

Caseloads of parole officers with sex offender clients will remain unchanged at 45 parolees.

Horsford and other legislators weren't persuaded that public safety will be protected if they approve the Sandoval plan. They promised more hearings once the Legislature convenes Monday.

Horsford has criticized Sandoval's spending plan, contending it is more than 30 percent less they what is needed to preserve vital functions of government.

A legislative audit released in March 2008 found that 31 percent of the time, probation officers failed to meet the twice monthly requirement of visiting with sex offenders.