Parole division urged to obtain outside help

Tuesday, May 9, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn's internal audit team suggested that $1.3 million could be saved by the state Division of Parole and Probation by farming out work to private industry.

The team, created by the 1999 Legislature, also said the state Division of Child and Family Services could reduce its workload by 30 percent to 40 percent by streamlining the way it awards contracts.

Guinn and the five other state elective officials Monday accepted reports on the two agencies plus recommendations for setting health fees and maintenance of the state prisons.

The recommendations are aimed at making government more efficient and are the second part of Guinn's overview of how the state does business. He has already held his financial forum in Las Vegas, looking at the economic picture of Nevada and how the state will overcome a deficit if it continues spending at the present rate.

The parole and probation examination, presented by auditor Lee Pierson, suggested pre-sentencing reports prepared for District Court judges could be drafted by a private firm rather than officers in the state agency.

The division now prepares an average of 832 reports every month and each takes an average of 5.1 hours to complete. It now costs about $5 million. By turning the job over to a civilian force, the cost could be lowered to $3.6 million, according to the audit team, which said state officers would still review the reports.

Pierson said farming the reports out to the private sector would free up state parole and probation officers to better supervise parolees, "thereby increasing community safety" and saving money.

Another money-saving proposal was made for the Division of Child and Family Services, for which auditors focused on the contracts the agency awards to private companies and individuals.

During the last biennium, 48 employees developed 556 independent contracts and amendments totaling nearly $99 million. The audit team said too many people were involved, leading to errors in 83 percent of the contracts. "Lots of the employees lack a background in contracting," Pierson said, suggesting that reducing the number of workers handling the contracts would improve efficiency.

The audit called for master contracts instead of individual agreements for each person or company.

The auditors also suggested the division seek a waiver from the state Board of Finance to the requirement that contracts over $100,000 must be rebid every two years. The report said most contracts are renewed because of the limited number of providers for such issues as residential placement.

"Our analysis indicated approximately 65 percent of the residential placement providers received contracts in both the current and last biennium," Pierson said.

An audit of the state Health Division and the state Division of Environmental Protection suggested those two agencies raise their fees to cover administrative costs.

But Guinn said he is against raising fees, which he considered a tax, unless the industry agreed. The governor noted that during the last legislative session he opposed any fee increase for an agency.

The major recommendation involving the prison system called for shifting all of the preventive maintenance money from each prison into the director's office.

Putting the money under one roof would lead to more efficiency, the audit said.