The city of Reno announced Tuesday that it plans to lay off eight employees due to financial challenges. The layoffs come despite the city’s effort to avoid them by freezing 20 positions and reducing costs by $16 million.

In an email, Reno City Manger Jackie Bryant said the previous $25 million gap in fiscal year 2026 that developed as a result of slow revenue growth and rising operation costs was filled with the reduction plan. However, Bryant said, fiscal year 2027 is looking at another shortfall of its own.

With rising operating costs and the Nevada’s Public Employee Retirement System requiring an increase in contributions starting this month, the city’s revenues are not keeping up with the costs, according to the city.

Bryant said the city’s current cost-saving measures are not enough to prevent fiscal year 2027’s projected $25 million shortfall, so the cuts are necessary to get ahead of the future deficit.

“Delaying action would risk greater impacts to essential services, including public safety, later this fiscal year,” Bryant said in the email. “A reduction in force is a necessary part of the solution.”

The city said it can not identify what positions would be cut, but none are public safety-related.

The Reno City Council will consider a resolution for the city manager to implement the formal reduction on July 23. If approved, Sept. 4 will be the last day of employment for the eight people.

The city said the employees were notified of their potential layoff on Tuesday, and were offered administrative leave with full pay and benefits until their last day of employment to allow them to focus on finding new employment.

“This decision is not a reflection of individual performance. It is a necessary and extremely difficult step to ensure the City’s long-term sustainability and ability to provide critical services. With over 78% of our General Fund dedicated to salaries and benefits, personnel reductions are unavoidable at this time,” the email said.

Jaedyn Young covers local government for the Reno Gazette-Journal. Her wages are 100% funded by donations and grants; if you’d like to see more stories like this one, please consider donating at RGJ.com/donate. Send your story ideas and feedback to Jaedyn at jyoung@rgj.com.