As prices at the pump continue to increase to up around $4 a gallon this summer, several states are looking at options to cut costs.
Just in time for the Independence Day holiday, Kentucky State Police announced a plan to scale back patrols and set up at least 200 checkpoints to reduce the amount of gas officers use, according to The Courier-Journal.
The new policy will run from July 4 and is expected to continue through Labor Day, according to the newspaper. Kentucky State Police spent $132,000 more for gasoline in May than they did in May 2007, according to The Courier-Journal.
State Police Capt. Tim Lucas told the Louisville-based newspaper the plan was in efforts to "let traffic come to us instead of us seeking traffic."
And just last month, Utah became the first state to mandate four-day workweeks for the majority of its state employees. Many Utah state employees will work 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 1,000 of the 3,000 Utah state buildings will close on Friday, according to Stateline.org.
“Utah is the only state to mandate a four-day workweek for most of its state government employees and no other state currently has plans to mandate a four-day work week, although a number of states are going to be keeping a close eye on Utah’s effort,” said Leslie Scott, executive director of the National Association of State Personnel Executives, an affiliate of The Council of State Governments.
In Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced last month that her office is considering work-schedule alternatives to save fuel. In New Mexico, Gov. Bill Richardson ordered state agencies to adopt policies for telecommuting and alternative work schedules by Sept. 1.
Kentucky and South Carolina are also offering shorter work weeks to state employees this summer, according to Stateline.org.
“Many states are promoting the greater use of already existing alternative work schedule and telecommuting policies to be used whenever possible,” Scott said. “Some states are in the process of updating their policies which may have been written decades ago. The handful of states that didn’t already have telecommuting and/or flexible work schedule policies are creating them.”
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