In the city of Reno, Nevada officials are now looking at removing around 20-30 city workers over the next two months in an attempt to close a budget deficit. The city officials detailed that they are planning to cut the city’s expenses by $2-3 million, which will lead to the elimination of over 30 employees. Reno’s general fund budget is currently short by $170 million. The layoffs are slated for March.

Donna Dreska, Reno’s City Manager, explained in an email that the city is still looking for alternative solutions to minimize the layoffs. She said that they are now in talks with various city employee unions to work out a fair resolution that would be amenable to all parties involved. “Nobody, including me, enjoys telling employees that they may be laid off. Unfortunately, that’s the fact at this point in time.”

Dreska noted that the slated cuts are expected to boost the city’s effort in closing the budget gap since Reno is spending about $100,000 in paychecks and benefits for an average employee. She added that the upcoming layoffs will position the city for fiscal year 2011-12, which will start in July when revenues are expected to fall below this year’s budget. “One thing is clear — fiscal year 2011-12 will be the most difficult year we’ve faced thus far.”

In 2010, the city of Reno removed over 126 full-time positions and about 56 positions were also left vacant since then to generate more savings. As of now, Reno has slashed 381 city positions since 2008. The city staff has been trimmed down to about 1,240.