Ending furloughs a top priority for Nevada colleges

LAS VEGAS — Nevada higher education officials say one of their top priorities for the 2015 legislative session will be doing away with mandatory furloughs.

This is the fourth year that full-time staff, faculty and classified higher education employees have been taking furloughs. Gov. Brian Sandoval’s spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, says the unpaid days off are saving the state $20 million per year.

The state initially called for all employees to take 12 furlough days per year, but that was reduced to six days off in fiscal year 2012.

College of Southern Nevada President Michael Richards called the furloughs a major financial and morale issue. But he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the session is still more than a year away and it’s hard to predict whether they’ll be eliminated.