[A] retirement incentive for state workers has attracted fewer volunteers than was hoped for in the budgeting process and the Agency of Transportation could bear the brunt of the soon-to-be-vacant positions.
The incentive, part of a plan to save labor costs and close the budget gap in fiscal year 2016, was available for 300 employees and garnered interest from 311 people as of early September.
Initial enthusiasm for the program waned, however, and the final tally of state employees taking advantage of the incentive is just 221, according to Administration Secretary Justin Johnson.
In order to achieve the savings, only a quarter of the jobs left vacant statewide by retiring employees can be refilled. The Agency of Administration is working across state government to decide which jobs will be the most important to fill.
Johnson said the administration has not finished calculating whether the savings from the retirement incentive will meet the general fund budget target of $2.5 million.
The state may fall short of the target because fewer retirees took up the offer than expected, Johnson said. But he expects the amount to be close enough that the administration may be able to make up for the shortfall outside of the annual budget adjustment process.
“Being at less than 300 is a problem,” Johnson said, “but I think the actual funding sources of the people leaving is better than we expected.”
State jobs are funded by a combination of state money, federal money and other special funds. In planning the incentive, budgeters estimated that all the jobs left vacant by the retirement incentive would together be funded by only 35 percent of the general fund.
However, the retirement incentive could end up exacerbating workforce issues in the Agency of Transportation — a branch of government that does not draw on the general fund at all, and where 53 employees volunteered for the incentive.
The agency, which is funded by a combination of federal dollars and the state highway fund, had its own budget troubles last year.
A revenue downgrade left lawmakers with a $6 million hole to fill in the transportation bill. Lawmakers ended up passing a transportation budget that included a $1.5 million cut in labor and personnel costs.
Transportation Secretary Chris Cole said that the agency had handled the cut by holding vacant positions open.
In general, the agency holds between 30 and 40 positions vacant as a way of saving money. In order to meet the $1.5 million cut, the number of vacancies increased to between 60 and 70, he said.
The 53 positions held by people who will be retiring will come on top of the vacancy savings, Cole said.
The exact impact of the retirement incentive on the AOT vacancies remains to be seen, Cole said, because a quarter of the vacant positions will likely be filled.
“It really depends upon the secretary of the administration and the decisions he has to make about which positions need to be rehired,” Cole said.
Cole’s top concern is making sure there are enough frontline AOT workers — the mechanics and snowplow drivers who keep roads passable on a daily basis. Eighteen members of the AOT maintenance and operations team volunteered to take the retirement incentive.
Those positions are a priority for him, as he works with the administration to determine which jobs get filled.
“For me, plowing the roads is the top priority,” Cole said.
Sen. Dick Mazza, D-Grand Isle, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said that he understands that the state as a whole will likely feel the impact of the budget difficulties.
“Looking at what’s going to happen in state government I think everyone is going to have to share some of the pain,” Mazza said Monday.
However, Mazza also emphasized the importance of being selective about which parts of the AOT bear the brunt of the vacancies.
“One of the things we can’t do is cut back on maintenance,” Mazza said, noting that snowplow drivers and other maintenance workers impact Vermonters’ lives each day.
