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North Dakota Mill and Elevator seeks staffing, wage funding in $108 million request
Summary
Officials from the North Dakota Mill and Elevator asked the Appropriations subcommittee to restore full FTE funding, add two positions for load-out and car checking, and include wage and overtime increases in a $108 million operating request.
Officials from the North Dakota Mill and Elevator told an Appropriations - Education and Environment Division subcommittee they are seeking additional budget authority and staff to meet rising production and shipment volumes.
CFO Kathy Dube said the agency requested a total operating budget of $108,000,000 and asked the committee to approve full FTE funding restoration ("a little over $4,100,000," she said) and additional pay-related amounts for wage increases, overtime and shift differentials (an additional $3,800,000 requested). Dube told members the governor’s recommendation reduced the agency’s request by about $2,700,000.
The agency asked specifically to add two positions in the load-out/car-checker area to handle a roughly 10% increase in shipments this year and a projected additional 10% increase in each of the next two fiscal years. Director Vance (no last name provided in testimony) and Kathy Dube also explained that four previously authorized milling crew positions were never filled during the last biennium; those four are intended to enable a fourth milling shift if demand requires the mill to run seven days per week.
Adam, a staff member presenting budget comparisons, said the mill’s recommended and executive budgets show no changes between the two governor versions on several lines and that the mill’s total operating budget walking to the executive recommendations would be about $105,500,000, all special funds. Adam described how salary increases, health insurance and vacancy-pool accounting appear across the sheets and noted that the mill’s payroll practices — where employees rotate into higher-paid roles for short periods and utility workers are entry-level — make FTE tracking and budgeting "quite different than the rest of the state agencies."
Kathy Dube described the mill’s staffing and seniority rules under its long-standing union contract with the AFL-CIO, saying the contract expires June 30 and that management expects to negotiate a successor agreement soon. She explained that internal bidding and seniority usually determine who fills newly posted positions and that external hires enter as utility workers.
Committee members pressed on whether it would be more efficient to hire the fourth-shift positions earlier to reduce overtime; agency officials said they considered that but preferred to wait until demand justified the permanent shift.
Committee discussion also covered the mill’s balance sheet and transfers to the state general fund. Dube estimated the mill’s equity position at about $135,000,000 and projected transfers of roughly $20,000,000 to the general fund for the next biennium if the transfer rate remains at 50 percent. The committee chair noted the mill operates as a business owned by the state and that expansion investments have increased profitability.
No formal committee vote on the mill’s requests was recorded during the session; committee members said they would perform a deeper review in upcoming work sessions.
