16 to be laid off from Secretary of State office

Secretary of State Ross Miller has advised staffers that Nevada's budget woes will mean layoffs of 16 staffers and elimination of nine vacant positions in his office effective Oct. 20.

The layoffs plus the elimination of the positions that have been held vacant because of the budget crisis mean Miller's authorized staff level is being reduced by nearly a fifth.

Miller said in e-mails this week to his staffers that he tried to avoid layoffs, adding that the reductions "will prove detrimental to the level of service the public expects from this office."

Because personnel costs and benefits account for about 70 percent of his office budget, Miller said he was unable to meet budget reductions sought by Gov. Jim Gibbons for all government agencies "without these extraordinary layoffs."

Miller also said he's confident that the layoffs in his office won't have to be followed by still more staff cutbacks and he'll be able to balance his budget "for the foreseeable future."

"These are difficult times and I truly appreciate your significant efforts in helping our state cope with the worst budget crisis in history," Miller concluded in his memo to his staffers.

"Please know that I reached this painful decision only after significant efforts in considering every possible alternative," he said.

The secretary of state's office is one of the state's largest sources of revenue fund revenue, producing $105.5 million last fiscal year. Its budget for the current fiscal year is just under $20 million, including $6.2 million in Federal Help America Vote Act funding.

Gibbons and state lawmakers already have been forced to approve a long list of budget cuts to cope with a projected revenue shortfall of nearly $1.2 billion by the end of this fiscal year.

The governor, adamantly opposed to new or higher taxes, is considering major budget reductions in the next two-year budget cycle, which starts in July 2009, because of fears of another huge revenue shortfall in that period.