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Jul. 17, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Skolnik withdraws plan to eliminate 'pay differential'

Swing shift guards would have been affected

By SEAN WHALEY
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- A plan to save nearly $700,000 by eliminating a 5 percent pay enhancement to correctional officers working the swing shift has been withdrawn, at least temporarily, by department Director Howard Skolnik.

Information sent out to Corrections Department employees states that the closure of two prison facilities and the freezing of some vacant positions should generate enough savings to meet a 2.9 percent budget reduction target set by the Legislature for the fiscal year that started July 1.

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    • The elimination of what is called a "pay differential" was proposed earlier this month by Skolnik as part of a plan to save $8.1 million.

    It was to take effect Monday.

    But a re-evaluation of the savings from frozen positions and the savings from closing the Southern Nevada Correctional Center at Jean and the Silver Springs Conservation Camp east of the capital makes the elimination of the enhancement unnecessary for now, Skolnik told department employees.

    If further cuts to the department budget are necessary, or if overtime costs cannot be managed effectively, the option may be put back on the table, he said.

    The differential is paid now to swing and graveyard shift correctional officers.

    About 450 officers working the swing shift would lose the 5 percent pay enhancement if the budget-cutting proposal was implemented.

    The state Board of Prison Commissioners delayed action on the proposed budget cuts earlier this month after Secretary of State Ross Miller, a member, asked for more information.

    At the time, Skolnik said he planned to proceed with the elimination of the shift differential.

    Other elements of Skolnik's budget reduction plan include maintaining 26 vacancies at Ely State Prison, another two vacancies in his own office and delaying the opening of new beds at other institutions.

    The Department of Corrections, along with most other state agencies, the university system and public education, are being asked to make cuts that in total average about 3 percent for this year to fill a $275 million shortfall.

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    hecklejeckle wrote on July 17, 2008 09:29 AM: What a waste! They spent millions to reopen Jean two or three years ago and now they're closing it again. The Department of Corrections is one of the biggest perpetrators of squandering money in this state. If NDOC doesn't need oversight, I don't know who does.


    Lexi wrote on July 17, 2008 09:04 AM: Come to our NEW forum and speak your mind against these blunders!

    http://nevadacorruptions.proboards83.com/index.cgi


    To Skolnik wrote on July 17, 2008 08:35 AM: Stop breaking the law. Tell the wardens to stop breaking the law. Then WE can pay less to defend thousands of lawsuits that never should have happened. It is cheaper to give a prisoner an aspirin than go to court for five years and then give him an aspirin. You are ROBBING US BLIND.


    CAS127 wrote on July 17, 2008 07:21 AM: "being asked to make cuts"

    Define "cuts"!

    Does "cut" mean that the Department will have fewer employed personnel than last year? Two years ago? Five?

    Or do "cuts" just mean that out of the additional 100 positions projected to be added this fiscal year (to pick a number) "only" 95 will be filled?

    The latter "definition" is typical of the corrupt word games that government uses endlessly to defraud the taxpayers.

    RJ - stopping aiding such BS. Give us accurate, useful information - not just the pre-cooked PR pieces that bureaucracies hand out to steal from the citizens.