TUCSON – Some Pima County employees could be shifting to a four-day, 10-hour-a-day work week as officials look for ways to close a gap in the county budget.

The four-day week would allow the county to close many buildings one day a week, saving as much as $1.5 million a year in heating, cooling and security.

County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said nearly all county buildings, from administration to neighborhood centers, could still provide most services with a one-day-a-week shutdown.

The exceptions to such a proposal would be the jail, the Juvenile Detention Center and the county's assisted-living facility. The county could ask the courts to go to four days a week as well.

The four-day week is among many proposals being considered to help the county balance its budget. They also include several days a year of unpaid leave for some employees, raising taxes and program cuts from non-mandatory services like parks and public transit.

Cost shifts from the state government and sharp declines in many of the taxes and fees the county relies on mean the county faces shortfalls of $15.6 million in the general fund, $6 million in transportation, $5.3 million in Development Services and $11.8 million in Wastewater Reclamation.

While that nearly $39 million total accounts for just 3 percent of the $1.3 billion budget, it comes on top of a budget process in which most departments already cut their budgets 5 percent. A hiring freeze has been in place for months and local officials are bracing for another round of state-cost shifts as legislators try to balance the state's budget.

Huckelberry said what actually will be cut is a policy decision that must be made by the Board of Supervisors. He will ask the board to look at the budget in January.

County supervisors said the cuts will be painful, but the county has no choice.

Supervisor Richard Elias said employees should not assume the county will take the most drastic steps, but that everything needs to be considered.

”I don't think anything should be off the table at this point,'' Elias said.