The Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) has a roughly $53 million budget shortfall amid spiraling overtime payouts, a revelation that frustrated legislative Democrats so close to the end of the budget year.

The budget hole means that the Legislature will now have to come up with enough money to fix the shortfall in just three months, before the next fiscal year begins on July 1. It won’t be a permanent fix, as the agency expects high overtime payouts to continue during the upcoming fiscal year. The Legislature does not budget for overtime pay.

News of the budget shortfall comes amid unease in the Legislature about spending money because of fears of a recession and federal funding cuts, as well as state budget projections that remained relatively flat for the upcoming budget cycle.

During a Thursday meeting of the state’s Interim Finance Committee, NDOC Director James Dzurenda said the large amount of overtime payouts stem from staffing shortages across the agency, obstacles it has faced in significantly expanding its workforce and a collective bargaining agreement that makes it easier for officers to work long hours. Correctional officers in Nevada filed to unionize in 2019.

He added that a more concrete fix won’t come until the results of an ongoing staffing study are released this summer — a prerequisite for significantly expanding staff, but one that will come after the end of the 120-day legislative session.

Dzurenda added that he has been communicating with the governor’s office about the staffing issues since assuming his position in January 2023. 

Elizabeth Ray, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, said in a statement that the office met with NDOC leadership as soon as it was notified of concerns with overtime pay, and a new pay plan was implemented on March 10. The governor’s finance office also began an audit into NDOC overtime requests in January that is ongoing.

Democratic lawmakers said they were frustrated that the issue was brought to their attention just three months before the end of the fiscal year, and they said that the agency has historically not done enough to fix its staffing problem.

“I just can’t believe this,” Sen. Rochelle Nguyen (D-Las Vegas) said during the hearing. “You knew that you were going to have a problem.”

Over about 30 minutes of testimony, Dzurenda said that insufficient staffing across the agency has resulted in more officers using overtime to fill posts that are not budgeted for.

For example, the agency’s budget provides only seven employees for its training academy, but in 2024 and 2025, it used more than 300 officers to assist in training — resulting in more than $350,000 in overtime pay.

Dzurenda also said the latest collective bargaining agreement with correctional officers allows for two extra days off each year — vacancies that must be filled through overtime pay that has amounted to nearly $2 million.

The prison system, which houses more than 10,000 inmates, must have enough staff working to ensure safe ratios of officers to prisoners around the clock.

“We do not have enough staff to run the operations that we were approved for,” Dzurenda said. 

The agency is working to decrease overtime payouts, including by cutting down in-person education programs for inmates and visitation for families of incarcerated people.

During the public comment period of the meeting, several people condemned the program cuts.

“If we as a society choose incarceration as a response to harm, we have a moral obligation to ensure that it is humane,” said Denise Bolaños Heredia, the associate director of Return Strong, a group made up of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones.

Nothing new

The agency has long struggled with overtime, Dzurenda said, but to a smaller degree — in fiscal year 2017, for example, the agency paid out $15.5 million in overtime.

“We are trying to rectify something that has been going on for decades — it’s not something new,” he said.

But why has it festered for so long?

Dzurenda, who was also the agency’s director from 2016 to 2019, said the Legislature has required the agency to pursue an independent staffing study that will determine exactly how much more staff it needs.

The agency pursued a similar kind of study more than a decade ago, but its recommendations were never implemented because of disputes about whether the Legislature approved the study.

“Why has there not been a request every session since then?” said Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas), who added there should have been a reserve fund if the shortfall was expected.

In 2023, legislators approved funding for a study that is expected to be complete by the end of June — a timeline that also angered Democrats.

“When we fund a staffing study, we expect that in two years when we come back in session that we’re going to have results from that that can inform our budgeting for the following two years,” Assm. Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas) said. “It’s incredibly frustrating.”

Dzurenda said that he agreed, but that the time it takes to review the entire agency’s workforce, as well as get the study off the ground, prolonged the timeline. He added that he expects the findings of the study to be substantial.

“I think it’s going to be devastating when they do present this,” he said.

Updated on 4/3/25 at 6:33 p.m. to include a statement from the governor’s office.