Governor Deval Patrick's Budget Recommendation - House 1 Fiscal Year 2014

State Workforce


Chapter 29, Section 6 states that “The operating budget shall indicate the number of positions proposed to be authorized for each state agency or such other public instrumentality for the ensuing fiscal year, the number of positions for each state agency in the current and ensuing fiscal years and such other information as may be held to explain the anticipated results of the proposed expenditures”.

To address this requirement, the Governor’s budget recommendation includes budgeted Full Time Equivalency (FTE) counts summarized at the Government area level.  Additional detail is included throughout the Budget Recommendations to indicate the employee level within specific departments.

Effect of the Budget on Personnel to Date

Annually, the Executive Office for Administration and Finance (ANF) provides FTE caps to the Executive Branch Departments, prioritizing hiring in areas where positions are critical for public health and safety or where a position results in additional revenue or cost savings for the Commonwealth.  FTE caps are implemented at the department level and reviewed regularly by ANF budget analysts to ensure agencies are taking the necessary steps to live within capped levels. It is important to note that FTEs correspond to budgeted level of staffing during any given fiscal year. For a number of reasons, particularly timing of planned hire dates, actual state employee head count and the number of budgeted FTEs may vary within state agencies. In addition, FTE counts typically are less than employee headcount or jobs, since a portion of state employees do not work full-time schedules.

Between the fall of 2008 and January 2013, the state workforce for jobs in the Executive Branch funded with operating dollars has declined by 3,541 jobs.  The reduction can be attributed to layoffs, attrition and retirement across all agencies in the Executive Branch. This trend has been mirrored in the Non-Executive Branch.  After accounting for an increase of 2,770 positions in January 2010 corresponding to the transition of seven county sheriffs’ offices to state agencies, total non-Executive budgetary jobs have declined by over 2,918 jobs. When considering employees paid in both branches, from all funding sources, the total state FTEs have decreased by close to 6,000 since FY 2008 (please see FTE discussion in the FY 2012 Statutory Basis Financial Report prepared by the State Comptroller’s Office).

The following chart lists the latest snapshot information. It should be noted that roughly 1,270 transportation FTEs were shifted off-budget in the Fall of 2009 while 2,770 sheriff employees where shifted on to the state budget on January 1, 2010. These changes should be accounted for when making historical comparisons.


Standard Workforce Summary and Variance Report, Pay Period Ending 01/12/13.

Definitions:

Standard Workforce: Describes the set of employees who are likely working regularly. It excludes those on unpaid leave and those in contractor, board member and seasonal positions.

FTE: “Full-Time Equivalent”.  Measures the workforce based on the hours each job is scheduled to work (not on hours actually worked per job). For example, two employees each scheduled as half-time (0.5) count as two jobs (“employees”), but only one FTE.

Jobs: Actual people (“employees”) on the pay period, also known as “head count”.  It is a measure of workforce counting the actual number of employees filling positions. 

Budgetary: Positions funded by the operating budget through direct appropriation and retained revenue accounts (i.e., GAA) based on the default account number in HRCMS.

Non-Budgetary: Positions funded by sources other than the state’s operating budget (federal, trust, grant and capital)

Executive: Positions assigned to agencies in the Executive Branch, where the Governor is the Chief Executive Officer.

Non-Executive: Positions assigned to agencies not within the Executive Branch.  These include Legislative, Judiciary, Independents and the colleges and UMass in Education.

H.1 Employment Levels

In reviewing the funding levels available to them for 2014, agencies must critically evaluate their employee level and determine further reductions are necessary to maintain a balanced budget.  The Governor’s FY 2014 budget recommendation projects a total of 64,655 budgetary FTEs.  This amount includes FTEs from both Executive and Non-Executive departments as well as positions funded from the operating accounts listed within the budget. It should be noted that these figures are subject to change, based on various factors including final FY 2014 funding levels, actual payroll spending experience and budgetary guidance issued by A&F during FY 2014 spending plans (July-August 2013).

FY 2013 and FY 2014 Budgetary FTEs Levels by Government Area
  Estimated
FY 2013
Proposed
FY 2014
Annual
Change
Executive Branch Secretariats:
Administration and Finance 2,779 2,809 30
Education 529 565 36
Energy and Environmental Affairs 1,984 1,970 (14)
Housing and Economic Development 701 718 17
Health and Human Services 19,434 19,218 (217)
Transportation 0 0 -
Labor and Workforce Development 275 275 -
Public Safety 8,880 8,962 82
sub-total 34,584 34,517 (66)
Non-Executive Branch:
Judiciary 7,230 7,230 -
Legislature 945 945 -
Constitutional Officers and Independents 9,555 9,567 12
Campuses 12,395 12,395 -
sub-total 30,125 30,137 12
TOTAL STATE BUDGETED FTEs 64,709 64,655 (54)

 

Workforce Planning Goals

The Executive Office for Administration and Finance (ANF) and the Human Resources Division have worked together to implement clear policies surrounding employees. Each fall, ANF engages each agency in a spending plan process in which each account is evaluated to determine how funds will be spent for the current fiscal year.  This requires a detailed description of employees for the current year - including those currently on staff, positions that are open and intended to be filled and new positions for which funding is available.  The goals of the employee caps are to:

  • Restrain Growth in State Employee Levels - Since payroll is a large portion of many agency expenditures, and reductions in force can take so long that savings cannot be realized in a fiscal year, caps are needed to manage hiring within available funding levels.  Although some hiring may have small costs for the current year, the full year value of new staff have budget impacts that must be considered.
  • Mitigate Shifts to Other Funding Sources – Employees come onto the state payroll several ways including the operating budget (FTEs and contractors), the capital budget, federal grants and trusts.  All sources are carefully reviewed to ensure we are maintaining compliance with employment laws and also to ensure that we are not using one time sources to pay for ongoing costs.
  • Manage Overtime Costs – Although hiring restrictions are important, overtime costs must be considered to ensure that proper staffing levels are maintained for public health and safety where responsibilities are 24 hours / 7 days per week.  Oftentimes, the savings of FTE restrictions are simply shifted to higher overtime.  Therefore, prudent management of both overtime and staffing levels must be evaluated.

top of page link top of page