Riverside County offices previously closed one day a week as a result of county furloughs have resumed Friday operations as of last week.
Many employees had shifted to a four-day, 10-hour work week as part of a 10 percent cut in compensation that most employees took for a year in order for the county to deal with budget deficits.
The utilities savings from closing buildings on Fridays was about $900,000 from September 2009 to August 2011. Furloughs also reduced salary costs over several years by $72.8 million.
Buildings, such as the county hospital, sheriff’s offices and others, were not affected because services are provided there every day. The Board of Supervisors in June directed that county offices that are open to the public should be accessible and provide services five days a week.
