Officials in several Connecticut towns have hit upon a new way to save money: Shut town hall one extra day of the week.

This may save the towns about $50,000, particularly in rising fuel costs.

Officials are citing those rising costs as the reason they're switching to a four-day workweek. Redding, Sterling, and Salem have already implemented the adjusted schedule, and Tolland, Middletown, Stafford and other towns are researching it.

West Hartford has also implemented a four-day workweek for the town clerk, assessor, and tax office, but the adjustment was inspired by budget cuts rather than energy savings, Town Manager James Francis said.

Under the new schedule, town employees will work the same number of hours each week, but the hours will be spread over four days instead of five. That will likely mean lower heating, energy, and transportation costs and, because some town halls will offer extended hours at least one day a week, easier access to town hall for members of the public who work during traditional municipal hours, town officials said.

According to a list prepared in June by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, at least seven municipalities already have a four-day workweek, and at least seven other towns are considering adopting the four-day schedule. Cornwall has had it for several years and Lebanon, Roxbury and Shelton have had it for a decade or more.

The four-day workweek is also on the table elsewhere in the country. Utah will adopt a four-day workweek for most state employees next month. Birmingham, Ala., city employees began working a four-day week on July 1.

In Connecticut, Redding implemented a four-day workweek for non-emergency employees in a trial period that began June 30 and will end Aug. 31. The town plans to look at how its energy usage has changed and solicit feedback from town employees and the public then, said Natalie Ketcham, the town's first selectwoman.

"We recognized that unless prices drop, we are going to be under-budgeted for gasoline and heating oil," Ketcham said, and the town decided to take measures early in the fiscal year rather than waiting until November or December.

She said the town may save more than $50,000 by adopting the four-day week.

An upcoming move to a larger town hall building in Sterling, and the associated rise in heating oil costs, led the town to adopt a four-day workweek beginning this week on the suggestion of a town employee, said First Selectman Russell Gray.

Middletown Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano had the same savings estimate as Redding - $50,000 per year, not including the transportation savings to employees.

But the city has not decided whether to condense the workweek, Giuliano said.

"The other side is, how much reliance do we have on those Friday hours? You don't want to fall down on service to the public."

If Middletown chooses to adopt a four-day week, it will do so before winter starts, Giuliano said.

Other towns considering the change include Colchester and Suffield, according to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

Officials of several towns that have adopted the change said Fridays were already slow - and many towns already have only half-day workdays on Friday.

"Friday has traditionally been an extremely slow day," said Gray.

Susan Kniep, president of the Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations and a former mayor of East Hartford, called the four-day workweek a beginning in local government's attention to taxpayer savings.

"If they can prove a cost savings, then certainly taxpayers, I believe, can support this concept," she said.

Town officials said they also hope extending hours during the four days town halls are open will make it possible for people who work during traditional hours to make greater use of town hall.

"We are hoping that with expanded hours during the four days, that we are more accessible to the public than we might have been previously," Ketcham said.