Court will continue no-furlough policy despite lawmakers’ complaints

By Cy Ryan

Friday, March 25, 2011 | 12:31 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Despite complaints from legislators, the Nevada Supreme Court is continuing its policy of not requiring its employees to take furloughs to save money.

Other state workers were required to take one day off a month starting in 2009 to produce savings for the state’s strapped finances.

The court issued an order Friday saying furloughs were not necessary to achieve the budget reductions.

During the legislative budget hearing March 1, lawmakers criticized the court for not following a law that required furloughs for state workers. They complained it wasn’t fair for two branches of government to conform to the law and the third branch to ignore it.

The court said that despite decreased revenues it made sufficient cuts in its operating budget and found other savings to achieve the goal of reducing spending. The courts said that made it unnecessary to require the furloughs.

The court said the revenue received from administrative assessments is estimated to fall 18.3 percent below projections during this fiscal year. These are administrative fines for misdemeanors that are levied from $25 to $115 and used, in part, to finance the operation of the court.

The court said it would take another look May 2 on whether to continue the no-furlough policy.

Gov. Brian Sandoval has recommended ending the furlough policy June 30, and instead imposing a 5 percent cut in salary for not only state workers, but also those at school districts and the university system.