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Agency appeals to subcommittee to restore funding for three long‑service positions after federal cut
Summary
An agency briefed the Senate subcommittee that three long‑tenured positions (including an IT role and an office manager) were removed from the governor’s recommendation in the House budget after federal CP fund support ended; the agency asked for state appropriation to retain the staff.
A state agency told the Senate subcommittee it needs funding to retain three employees after a federal funding source was eliminated, and it urged restoration of a line‑item the House removed.
The presenter said the governor had recommended funding under line item 272 to cover the three positions and that the agency had relocated five of eight formerly federally funded positions into federal grants but could not find an allowable federal fund source for these three, which have agency‑wide roles. “These 3 employees have been within 8 to 10 year employees with the agency,” an agency official told senators, adding that the roles include an IT position and an office manager who serve the whole agency rather than a single grant program.
Why it matters: The agency said its federal “CP” fund source was eliminated by a change in federal rules and that fund source had previously covered a catch‑all set of administrative positions. The agency said it exhaustively sought alternative federal funding but cannot reassign the three positions consistently with grant rules and therefore asked the state to fund them.
What the agency told senators: The finance director reviewed the current salary and fringe totals for each position and said the governor’s recommendation included the required state match; the presenter said the House removed the appropriation. The finance director noted a difference in the fringe rate used in the house analysis and flagged that the correct current fringe rate is lower than the inflated rate shown in one submission.
Committee discussion and context: Senators asked whether the positions could be shifted into grant funding; the agency described federal matching rules and cited a federal traffic‑safety grant regulator’s (NHTSA) guidance that requires positions to be charged to the grant they support. The agency said it had moved five other positions into federal fund sources where the work aligned with grants but that the three roles at issue have agency‑wide responsibilities and thus do not meet the regulatory criteria for grant charging.
The presenter highlighted the agency’s broader work, saying state contributions help the agency draw down federal funds that in turn support statewide programs. The committee asked the agency to follow up with corrected fringe calculations by email.
Ending: The subcommittee did not record a vote on the request in the segment; the agency asked for help restoring the positions and indicated it would follow up with clarifying cost details.
