A budget-cutting guide?

LINCOLN — A new study showing that more than 2,100 state government jobs are vacant could provide an important road map on how to cut the state's ailing budget, one state senator said Tuesday.

Eliminating such unfilled jobs — about one out of every nine state jobs and about $63 million in salaries — could be a less painful way to cut state spending than layoffs and other reductions, says State Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha.

“You can see that there's a lot of funding that we can take out of agencies that will not hurt critical programs,” said Mello, a member of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee.

The report represents the first time state agencies have had to compile an overall report of job vacancies. It comes as legislators prepare to begin a special session today to cut $334 million in state spending because of recession-reduced tax receipts.

Two key state officials, however, challenged the accuracy of the report, compiled by the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services.

State Budget Director Gerry Oligmueller and State Sen. Lavon Heideman, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, both cited inaccuracies in the report. Oligmueller also said not all vacant positions are funded. The $63 million represents the last salaries paid for those positions.

But both officials acknowledged that eliminating vacant state jobs is among the tools being eyed to reduce state spending.

Some other states, as well as the City of Omaha, have taken the same step to pare spending.

Last summer, state agencies such as the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the state college system eliminated vacant jobs to address the tight state budget adopted in May.

Now the State Patrol and the state prison system are among the agencies looking at eliminating more unfilled positions to address budget cuts proposed by Gov. Dave Heineman.

Mello, who has criticized the lack of information provided to Appropriations Committee members, said he was shocked last spring to discover the lack of data provided about vacant jobs and whether they could be eliminated to save money or whether agencies were using the money for other needs, like computers or copy machines.

Senators, he said, need such information if they are to make informed budget decisions.

He added language in the state budget bill requesting a quarterly report on vacant state jobs and what they paid. The first quarterly report, a 692-page mountain of figures, was issued two weeks ago.

“It's a dirty little secret of state government. You get to keep money from a job that you never fill,” Mello said, adding that he suspects some agencies pad their budget by retaining vacant jobs.

Oligmueller answered a flat “no” when asked whether he thought state agencies were doing that. While they have the flexibility to spend money as they see fit, he said, agencies have been warned for months to avoid unnecessary hiring or spending.

Heidemann said there might be some instances in which agencies held on to vacant positions, but he added that some vacancies are natural because of retirements and resignations.

Oligmueller said the report listed 64 “vacant” positions at a correctional facility in Hastings that was closed four years ago.

Heidemann pointed to 808 vacancies attributed to the state college system as a gross error. That represents every job in the state college system, said Carolyn Murphy, a vice chancellor of finance and administration for the state college system.

Murphy said her agency shifted its jobs last summer from the state personnel system to the more compatible University of Nebraska personnel system.

Neither Murphy nor Mike McCrory, the state personnel director at the Department of Administrative Services, could explain why they were in the report. (That figure isn't included in the 2,100 total vacancies.) The state college system currently has 19 job vacancies.

The NU system, which was not included in the state report, had 251 vacant, full-time-equivalent jobs as of July 1, or about 3 percent of the system's state-funded jobs, a spokesman said.

The report also showed 58 unfilled positions in the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, including 38 for attorneys. But spokesman Allen Forkner said that was inaccurate and based on data at least six years old.

Sen. Mello said he also had several questions about the report but defended the numbers as the first and best ever provided on vacant state jobs.

Reducing state jobs has been a prime target for almost a year, since Heineman advised state agencies that rough budget times were ahead and to carefully weigh whether to fill vacancies and delay other spending.

That effort resulted in $244 million in savings in last year's budget. He now proposes tapping $64.5 million of that savings to help bridge the $334 million budget gap. Some of the $64.5 million came from agencies cutting unfilled positions, but Oligmueller said officials did not add up how much.

Overall, he said, the job vacancy report could be helpful in deciding where cuts could be made but “it's not necessarily the final story.”

Mello said many of his questions about the job vacancies were inspired by a column last April in Governing magazine by Richard Greene and his wife, Katherine Barrett, entitled “The Vacancy Game.” They wrote that agencies can “bank” vacant jobs to weather budget shortages and that using funds from unfilled jobs for other purposes raises transparency concerns.

They said Maryland targeted 1,000 vacant state jobs for elimination last spring, and Vermont adopted a vigorous review of vacancies to reduce the use of personnel funds for other spending.

The City of Omaha eliminated 183 vacant civilian jobs between 2001 and 2009 — about 12.4 percent of all civilian jobs, saving more than $7 million a year, city budget officials said.

“It's a huge chunk of money, which is why we did it,” said Paul Landow, former Mayor Mike Fahey's chief of staff.

A city committee met weekly to review and approve filling any vacant job. Jobs vacant for more than three years received special scrutiny, said Landow and former City Budget Director Carol Ebdon.

Oligmueller said state personnel budgets are scrutinized every two years, when the Legislature adopts a budget.

At the Nebraska State Patrol, 11 trooper positions authorized by the Legislature last spring were left unfilled, anticipating budget trouble. Patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said those 11 plus six other trooper slots recently vacated by retirements and resignations would be eliminated under the governor's budget plan.

The last training class for new troopers was 22 months ago.

“We've been doing without,” said Collins.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com