The Director of the Nevada Department of Corrections (You didn't really think it was us, did you?) has requested that prison staff be exempted from the mandatory state employee furlough program.
Howard Skolnik has requested exemption for "guards" and other essential staff through the budget period ending in June 2011.
State lawmakers have ordered the one day per month furloughs in order to save $330 million during the two year Nevada budget cycle. They allowed for about $4 million in public safety exemptions, but the prison system exemptions requested would cost about $8 million.
The Director has stated that requiring furloughs would strain his agency, which is already understaffed, and would jeopardize safety of staff and inmates within the system.
A board consisting of the Governor, the A. G. and the Secretary of State will meet today in Carson City to consider the Director's request.
It must be nice to have an agency director that understands what is actually happening within his agency and has the courage to stand up and say what he needs. Wish we had one of those.
Thanks to Centurion for the heads up on this one.
ADDENDUM: He got his exemption.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Prison Director Requests Furlough Exemption.
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9 comments:
So....The Director of Corrections in Nevada has shown his regard for the safety of his staff and inmates by refusing to rubber stamp employee furloughs.
Must be nice.
And a big thanks to RONIN. I got this one from him......
Ya know, I don't know Cate from the next person, but if the following quote is any indication of where Cate's head is at, it would seem he does have a little inkling of "things" going on at the institution level (this, from the CCPOA website)
http://ccpoa.org/5150hotline_030609.shtml
"When asked directly about the potential lay-offs and the surplus notices that were sent out a couple of weeks ago, Executive Vice President Chuck Alexander provided some important insight. He referred to a legislative budget hearing held last week where CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate testified and gave the following quotes:
"Most of our funding goes to salaries as has been indicated. I think the important thing to note is that in my opinion we can't simply cut staff at the institutions and maintain the same number of inmates."
"We are already 48th in the nation in officer to inmate ratio and our staff safety is number one on our list of concerns. And so that, in our view, is what should be the last option."
"We can't expect to do an across-the-board cut, especially at the line level and expect us to maintain our institutions."
Mr. Cate made it clear to the legislative budget committee members that cutting staff positions was not going to be a safe or productive method for cutting costs at CDCR. While Cate did not absolutely rule out all possibility of any layoffs, it does not appear that CDCR would be able to realize the significant cost savings they are looking for."
Now I realize that he is talking about layoffs and staff shortages and not necessarily the furlough program but someone, somewhere, decided that having R&F Unit 6 actually off on "Furlough Fridays" might just be a problem, so therefore furlough days are being accrued while staff are working for 15% less.
Does this mean Cate has your back? I don't know, but it does indicate that he is at least minimally concerned about staff safety. Cate may be a minion following orders, but the real fool here is GAS.
Looks like they got the exemption
http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/state/ap/638498/Furlough-exemptions-extended-for-NV-prison-guards.html
Department of Corrections Director Howard Skolnik says the exemption will cost $3.8 million, $1.2 million of which has already been spent since July 1.
Skolnik says his agency can offset some of the expense by charging rent for prison stores and gymnasiums.
He added that the department is negotiating with a private company to lease a state prison in Jean, which could bring in $2.5 million a year and help pay for continued furlough exemptions through the 2011 fiscal year.
Perhaps GAS can lease out PBSP or Corcran to make up for the furlough costs.
i was reading over some of the nevada doc stuff and it looks pretty tempting
i can live on 60-65k a year pretty comfortably in nevada
i might try working over there and get out of this state before it flushes completely
haha - The grass usually isn't greener on the other side of the proverbial fence, but I think in this case, it just may be. Suffice it to say it can't be any worse.
maybe the inmates are not running the asylum in nevada like they do in calif
at least u can go into a store and buy a gun unlike Kalifornia :-)
And a lot less suits running around, amuck, and jerking their knees at the drop of a dime.
As for the grass being greener, my experience has always been that when I saw the grass greener on the other side of the fence it was usually because it was on top of a cesspool and didn't find out until I made the leap.
Remember, when you're in the middle of a drought (no matter how long it is) there will an eventual rainfall. It's the law of probability.
The real fool(s) are those who voted a totally unqualified person into the office of Governor.
Remember to be careful what you wish for: you might get it.
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