PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Administration has received tentative approval from the state Budget Office to fill 92 of its 169 current vacancies.
Still, although “92 [full-time equivalent] positions have been approved, not all will be filled immediately,” said Amy Kempe, of Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s media relations and communications office, and some might not be filled at all. Moreover, even if all 92 spots are filled, the department “will remain below its FTE cap by 77 positions,” she told Providence Business News.
The list includes eight FTEs – three positions in the Department of Administration’s Office of Library and Information Services and five in the Division of Planning – for which the federal government would pick up at least 75 percent of the tab.
“In a lot of the departments, they do recruit for the federally funded positions first,” Kempe said. But there is no formal procedure for determining which positions will be filled first: “It’s up to the individual departments to determine, based on need,” she said.
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Many of the vacancies reflect openings created by the flood of retirements from state service this summer, in advance of a change in retiree health benefits for those who stayed on after Sept. 31. (READ MORE)
But the list of Administration Department positions approved (see attachment at right) also includes 23 FTEs in the Division of Information Technology – five of them in the DoIT’s telecommunications office – in which contractors are being replaced by state workers. The DoIT already has “eliminated 15 contractors and replaced them with state workers for an annual savings of $379,347,” Kempe said. “We are in the process of recruiting an additional 13 state FTEs, to eliminate 14 contractor positions,” to bring total annual savings to $749,270.
Those jobs are part of a broader cost-cutting initiative that initially encountered delays “in part due to not being able to find qualified candidates … willing to work within the current state salary guidelines,” Kempe said. “The reason for the cost savings there is just the change in the jobs climate,” she added in a telephone interview. “Even a year ago … it was more lucrative for them to work for an IT company.” But now, “because of the economy, the state has received the benefit, especially on the IT side.”
Meanwhile, “all the agencies and departments have been working the Six Sigma process (READ MORE), using the tools, because after the retirements, it was a good opportunity for reorganization,” Kempe said.
“Many of the initiatives outlined in the budget – including consolidation of positions, researching the cost savings of buying a state-of-the-art IT facility versus the rehab of the old [state] Training School, the subsequent consolidation of IT function into a space to move agencies from leased space to state-owned space – are all examples of applying Six Sigma and Fiscal Fitness principles to managing and budgeting,” she added, citing as further examples “the moving of contract positions into internal hiring,” in the DoIT and elsewhere, and the shutdown of the Division of Motor Vehicles’ satellite offices in Westerly and West Warwick. (Those offices both had been slated to close on Dec. 31, but a problem with heating forced the West Warwick office to close three days early, the DMV announced today.)
With the state facing a potential budget deficit of $357 million in the current fiscal year (FY 2009), the governor’s office is working on a supplemental state budget – “expected to be complete prior to the start of the legislative session,” slated to open Tuesday, Jan. 6 – that “will include many different cost-saving and revenue-generating initiatives,” Kempe said.
“Right now,” she said, “each department and agency is working with the Budget Office to finalize budgets to put forth proposals to the governor. … The Budget Office is working through this very thoughtful and comprehensive process to analyze all supplemental budget initiatives and will move forward with a responsible supplemental budget.” Those budget plans then must move “through the legislative process,” Kempe said.
In this economy, “small businesses, large businesses, families are all being asked to tighten their belts, and the state has to do the same,” she added.
News and information about the R.I. Department of Administration and the state Budget Office, including the FY 2009 budget as enacted, are available at www.admin.ri.gov.
