Denton County officials are exploring whether changing work schedules could save money and help employees cope with rising commuting costs.

The open-ended discussion during the county commissioners’ meeting Tuesday came in response to reports of other businesses and governments changing working hours for the same reasons.

The U.S. Energy Information Admin­istration on Monday reported a new, all-time high in the nationwide average for the price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline — $4.114. Texans paid a little less, an average of $3.953 per gallon.

County Judge Mary Horn said that she asked for the discussion because she felt it was important that the county write a policy in case departments want to make changes. She acknowledged that the commissioners couldn’t dictate to other elected officials how they should run their offices, but she thought some departments might realize savings with a change.

Commissioner Cynthia White said that the road and bridge department, which is particularly busy in her precinct, was doing well with a four-day workweek, in which employees put in 10-hour days.

“It’s been a whole lot more productive,” White said.

Commissioners Ron Marchant and Bobbie Mitchell expressed concern that changing the hours would cause confusion. They worried that residents could find it more difficult to get their county business done, especially if all the offices had different hours.

“I understand the problems with gas being high, but we want to make sure the public is being served,” Mitchell said.

Marchant worried that customer service in satellite offices, in particular, would suffer if one department was closed when another was open.

“Then the tax office would be answering questions for the justice of the peace,” Marchant said. “That’s happening some already.”

County health department employees already work four-day weeks, even though the clinic is open five days a week, department director Bing Burton said.

Several department heads told commissioners that option might not work for smaller de­partments where there aren’t enough employees to stagger the hours or where employees must work as a team. Other department heads reminded the commissioners that one goal of the discussion was figuring out how to close buildings for additional hours, otherwise no utility savings could be realized.

Hickory Creek and Corinth changed their operating hours last summer, primarily in re­sponse to patterns of visits by residents. City workers had found that few residents came to city hall on Friday afternoons.

Instead, those cities extended office hours on select days during the week — to make it easier for people to come in after school or work — and closed on Friday afternoons.

The recent outage at the Joseph A. Carroll Building may yield some information about utility savings when people aren’t using a building, but Facilities Director Danny Brum­ley said it’s too soon to tell.

The monthly electric bill for the Carroll building usually comes to about $13,000, he said.

Even a 5 percent reduction in energy usage could yield $650 per month in savings, Brumley said.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .