State lifts hiring freeze

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A hiring freeze that had kept 1,500 to 1,800 state government jobs vacant since the late '90s has been lifted.

State Budget Director Perry Comeaux said Wednesday that Gov. Kenny Guinn informed his cabinet last week that the freeze was over. But he also ordered them to prepare contingency plans for budget reductions if tax collections fall below what is expected.

Comeaux said department directors were urged to be "cautious" about hiring. But as long as their department budgets can cover the new hires, the department directors are free to fill the positions without submitting justification to the budget office.

"Department heads can do it at their own discretion," Comeaux said.

Keeping the positions vacant saved an annual $8 million to $10 million, according to the analysis performed on one year of the freeze. But no running total was kept.

There were exemptions from the freeze. It did not apply to nurses, highway patrol troopers and prison correctional officers, except for positions of sergeant or above, Comeaux said.

And an agency could request a waiver to hire somebody if the position was deemed crucial.

Still, Scott MacKenzie, director of the State of Nevada Employees Association, said, "A lot of agencies have been short staffed with workers doing double duty. Now they can get some help."

For instance, he said, the guidelines for the welfare system call for one case worker for every 175 clients, but that ratio has ballooned to one worker for every 900 clients in Nevada. There were concerns that the overloading of the caseworkers could have jeopardized federal funds, MacKenzie said. He said state workers are "breathing a big sigh of relief," with the governor's decision.

Greg Bortolin, press secretary for Guinn, said the agencies will still have to "work within the confines of their budget" in new hirings. He said Comeaux's office will provide scrutiny to make sure the positions are needed.

"Positions are not going to be filled just because of them being on the books," said Bortolin.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Minden, said he was surprised at Guinn's announcement.

"Things seem to be running well," with the reduced staff, he said.

He said it seemed odd to him that the governor pledged not to raise taxes again in two years but then opened up the hiring.

Hettrick said Wednesday that he would have to do some calculations before making further comments. But, he said, the budget, in part, was based on keeping some of those positions vacant.

Many positions also were eliminated this year. Guinn, in his budget, eliminated about 500 of the vacant positions. But he also recommended an additional 800 to 900 new jobs. Comeaux said there was a net increase of about 350 positions, but most of them were in the state Department of Motor Vehicles and nongeneral fund agencies.

These agencies are supported by fees or other sources of revenue -- not from the general treasury.

During the freeze, additional overtime was authorized to help the agencies perform their tasks.

Now that the freeze has been lifted, "we're going to look at the overtime a lot harder," Comeaux said.

But, he added, there are some departments, such as those that deal with public safety and public health, where overtime could not be curtailed.

Comeaux said the administration is being cautious because there is not enough known about the proposed $863 million tax package over the next two years. He said nobody knows whether the taxes will produce this much money. The freeze was started by Gov. Bob Miller and had been continued by Guinn since he took office in 1999.