What a lot of people may not realize about recessions is that they are just as hard on governments as they are on businesses. The fact is that when less people are paying less taxes, there is less public money to go around. So a recession acts sort of like a double whammy; not only can an individual lose his or her job working test weights at a plant, but might also lose vital services as governments try to compensate for a lack of funds.

Some states have had to undertake extreme measures in order to compensate for a diminished cash flow. In some areas, municipalities have had to start buying less effective waste water treatment chemicals in order to cut back. In states such as California, government employees including teachers have been laid off in the hundreds.

In Texas, the money crunch is just as bad, but so far measures to save money and stop spending have been muted. Attempts have been made at all levels of government to keep the disruption of services due to lack of funds to a minimum, and that includes operations at the municipal level. In the case of residents with a zip code in El Paso, the changes will not be too extreme. Just like your local greenhouse supplier might do, the city has decided to cut hours of operation rather than operations themselves in order to save some money.

The plan in El Paso is to convert many administrative and bureaucratic arms of the city service to a four day work week, with ten hours of operation daily rather than eight. This way, employees still get their full work week and offices stay open, just during different times. The plan is as experimental as a new tile strapping machine, and will run from May to October of 2010 to see how it works out.

The official work week for any administrative office of the municipality will be Monday to Thursday, 8am to 6pm, during those months. All regular city business, such as electronic contract manufacturing and council meetings, will take place during those times.

Regular garbage disposal, the hours of the zoo and the museum, and other regular services will not follow this new schedule. A good way to keep in mind what will change is that if the service is for the most part invisible to the public eye, it has gone to the four day work week.