56,944 working full time for state

Since ’87, payroll up all but 1 year

The number of full-time state employees increased by 65 last fiscal year, the second-slowest growth in the number of state employees during at least the past 27 years, official statistics show.

The state ended fiscal 2013 with 56,944 full-time employees - up from 56,879 at the end of fiscal 2012 - according to a report from state Budget Administrator Brandon Sharp.

The size of the government workforce increased by just over 0.1 percent.

Since fiscal 1987, the earliest year for which figures are available, fiscal 2011 is the only fiscal year in which the number of full-time state employees decreased. The number fell by 71 employees to 56,351 that year before increasing by 528 in fiscal 2012.

Errors sometimes creep into state government’s official report on the number of full-time employees, but the annual report offers the most reliable tally available.

Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, who routinely calls his administration’s proposed state budgets and revenue forecasts conservative, said he believes in “making sure that you hire enough people to do what needs to be done, but don’t hire more than you need to.”

Keeping a tight rein on the growth in state personnel is “the normal flow of events,” he said.

The number of full-time employees at the state’s two- and four-year colleges increased by 198 to 25,042 in fiscal 2013, according to Sharp’s report. The ranks at the state’s other agencies dipped by 133 to 31,902.

Fiscal 2013 started July 1, 2012, and ended June 30.

A co-chairman of the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Personnel Subcommittee, Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville, said the slow growth in full-time state employees in fiscal 2013 was because of “a concerted effort from the governor on down.”

“State government is getting more efficient in how it delivers services,” and lawmakers are asking state agencies how their requests for more employees will benefit taxpayers, he said.

The other subcommittee co-chairman, Rep. Andrea Lea, R-Russellville, said the panel’s leaders also “have made concerted efforts to slow the growth.

“We have encouraged agencies to trade positions rather than create new ones.”

The cost of state employees and benefits decreased in fiscal 2013 by $23 million from the previous fiscal year to $3.720 billion, according to Sharp’s report.

That’s because the state had 27 pay periods in fiscal 2012 - it’s a phenomenon known as “payroll creep” that occurs for businesses and governments that pay biweekly - and that 27th pay period generally occurs once every 11 years, according to Sharp.

In addition, most state employees didn’t receive cost-of living pay raises in fiscal 2012 and 2013 because lawmakers balked at funding them in the aftermath of the nation’s most recent recession.

Earlier this year, the Legislature provided funding for cost-of-living raises for state employees at most state agencies, excluding two- and four-year colleges. It enacted a general revenue budget of $4.924 billion for fiscal 2014 - a $197.3 million increase over fiscal 2013. Most of the increased funding will go to the state’s Medicaid program and to public schools.

The state’s universities decide on their own whether to give their employees pay raises, taking into consideration their funding from the state and other sources like tuition and fees. Most of them are granting pay raises to their employees in fiscal 2014.

This year’s Legislature also enacted a cornucopia of tax cuts projected to reduce state general revenue by $10.1 million in fiscal 2014, $85.1 million in fiscal 2015 and $141.2 million in fiscal 2016.

During the past two months, Beebe has repeatedly pointed out that the Legislature enacted tax cuts in anticipation of savings from its authorization of using federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans through health exchanges - the so-called private option. He has warned that the Legislature will either have to repeal some tax cuts or trim state government if it doesn’t reauthorize the use of federal funds for the private option in the fiscal session that starts Feb. 10.

The federal dollars are aimed at helping an estimated 250,000 uninsured Arkansans obtain insurance through health exchanges. So far, more than 60,000 Arkansans have signed up for the health insurance coverage, according to the state Department of Human Services.

BEEBE ERA GROWTH

In fiscal 2008, Beebe’s first full year as governor, the state’s number of full time employees increased by 1,524. Then, the number rose by 1,256 in 2009 and 629 in fiscal 2010 before dipping by 71 in fiscal 2011.

The decrease in fiscal 2011 came after 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Keet of Little Rock promised not to increase the number of state employees if elected and accused Beebe of letting the state payroll grow too much.

Beebe, who won all 75 of the state’s counties in the 2010 election, has said the slowdown in state hiring in fiscal 2011 had “nothing to do with politics” and that employee growth in his time, except for higher education, had been “relatively slow.” “I’m pretty conservative when it comes to money,” he said in September 2011.

During his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Mike Huckabee drew criticism for the growth in state employees while he was Arkansas governor.

The number of full-time employees in the governor’s office hasn’t increased in the past seven years.

In fiscal 2013, the number of full-time employees in Beebe’s office dropped by five to 50, according to Sharp’s report. The governor’s office had 55 full-time employees in December 2006 when Huckabee was governor.

The governor’s office now has 49 full-time employees. That’s because it is difficult to hire someone to work in the office near the end of a governor’s administration - Beebe is term-limited and will not seek re-election in 2014 - and there is less demand for services, Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said.

The number of full-time employees working for the Legislature - the House, Senate, Bureau of Legislative Research and Division of Legislative Audit - increased by six to 426 in fiscal 2013, according to Sharp’s report. That’s up from 375 in December 2006. The increases are in the bureau from 98 to 119 and audit division from 243 to 273.

HIGHER EDUCATION

According to Sharp’s report, the number of full-time employees at the state’s four year colleges increased by 203 to 21,807 in fiscal 2013, while the number of employees at the two-year and technical colleges slipped by five to 3,235.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ full time employees increased by 193 to 8,526 in fiscal 2013, while the number at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville increased by 177 to 3,352, the report said. The number of full-time employees at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville increased by 41 to 812, and the ranks at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro increased by 11 to 1,686.

UAMS added more than 100 information-technology employees for the implementation of its new electronic health-records platform, and some of the positions will vanish at the end of the twoyear implementation, said UAMS spokesman Leslie Taylor.

The medical institution also added 30 employees who had formerly worked at CARTI, she said. UAMS bought out CARTI’s interest in radiation oncology services on the Little Rock campus.

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s employee roster grew because “we hired more people,” university spokesman Steve Voorhies said.

“Increasing enrollment has required hiring more faculty and staff,” he said, and more than two-thirds of the additional employees are faculty members.

The number of full-time employees at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway decreased by 119 to 1,148 in fiscal 2013, according to Sharp’s report.

But Graham Gillis, an associate vice president of human resources at UCA, said UCA’s number of employees actually increased by 12 in fiscal 2013.

A year ago, Sharp’s report showed that UCA’s employee roster grew by 147 in fiscal 2012, though Gillis said it increased by 16.

UCA revised its figures reported to the Bureau of Legislative Research for fiscal 2012 last year, and “it was not in time to make the correction,” he said. The problem “should not occur going forward,” he said.

Last year, state officials said there had been confusion among some of the state’s higher-education institutions about what employees are considered full time to report to the Bureau of Legislative Research. Sharp’s report is based on the bureau’s report.

OTHER STATE AGENCIES

The Department of Human Services’ number of full-time workers increased by 27 to 7,505 in fiscal 2013, according to Sharp’s report.

The Community Correction Department’s figures increased by 51 to 1,245.

The Highway and Transportation Department’s number declined by 40 to 3,553.

The Health Department’s number fell by 34 to 2,627.

The Department of Finance and Administration’s figures dipped by 22 to 2,601.

The Correction Department’s number slipped by 18 to 4,112.

NEXT GOVERNOR

Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson of Rogers, a former 3rd District congressman, said he would initiate an executive order to cap the number of state employees at the current level and authorize a review to “determine which positions are essential and how our agencies can be reorganized, consolidated or eliminated to improve the efficiency of operations without reducing quality state services provided to the citizens.”

Republican candidate Curtis Coleman of Little Rock, a businessman, said he plans to unveil proposals within the next three months on “installation of business efficiency practices designed to eliminate waste and unnecessary costs,” performance-based budgeting and linking the growth of state government to the success of the state’s businesses.

Republican candidate Debra Hobbs of Rogers, a state representative, said she wants to review all state agencies to determine their effectiveness and to look for duplication of services. She also plans to examine each agency to see if the agency is necessary. Her review would begin with the state Department of Career Education and Health Services Permit Agency, she said,

“As governor, my goal is to apply sound business practices to government,” Hobbs said. “Many entrepreneurs have to continuously examine their businesses for cost savings while still meeting the needs of their customers.Government should go and do likewise.”

Democratic candidate Mike Ross of Little Rock, the state’s former 4th District congressman, also has promised to closely examine each agency.

“Our hardworking state employees help the state coordinate critical state services like education, Medicaid and public safety, but there is always room to make government more efficient. That’s why one of my first actions as governor will be to order a top-to-bottom review of each and every state agency, so that we can identify and cut any wasteful or unnecessary spending, and so we can make common-sense adjustments to our state’s government,” Ross said.

So far, Hutchinson has proposed individual income tax cuts that he estimates would save taxpayers about $100 million a year, while Ross has proposed phasing in a sales tax cut to help manufacturers that he estimates would eventually save manufacturers $40 million a year.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/29/2013

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