ITD seeks pay and staffing changes to reduce turnover among maintenance crews

Idaho Transportation Department officials told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee they are working to reduce high turnover among entry-level maintenance employees and to staff newly approved positions. The department described a multi-pronged approach that includes the 53 frontline positions the Legislature approved in the prior budget cycle and a targeted pay adjustment request for maintenance career paths.

Director Scott Stokes and budget analysts said the committee-approved addition of 53 positions in FY2025 was intended to “right-size” frontline maintenance staffing after years of reductions. “We added 53 positions to our staff, all in district, frontline operational type positions,” Stokes said. ITD reported it has recruited roughly 50 of those positions but still faces 60 to 70 vacancies across the department overall.

ITD proposed a targeted CEC that would raise pay steps across the maintenance horizontal career paths by $2.50 per hour (the department described the proposal as moving the whole pay chart up by $2.50). Stokes said the objective is to reduce churn among entry-level hires—who require costly training including commercial driver's licenses—and retain experienced staff. He told lawmakers that the department’s average departure rate for maintenance employees over the last three years is about 78 employees per year.

Committee members asked for detail on which job classifications would be affected and whether the targeted adjustment overlaps with other statewide CEC proposals. The department said the targeted CEC applies to transportation technician and maintenance career paths (entry through lead/operations team leaders) and that it would develop a policy to implement the pay-step adjustments; ITD officials acknowledged there may be interactions with other CEC decisions the Legislature considers.

The committee also heard budget detail for the 53 positions that were previously approved: committee materials showed the FY2025 appropriation added approximately $3,753,000 ongoing in personnel costs, $174,000 ongoing in operating, and $946,000 in one-time capital outlay associated with hiring those positions. No formal vote on the new targeted CEC took place during the hearing; lawmakers requested additional analyses comparing ITD pay rates to city and county rates and asked for follow-up on retention projections and pay‑survey results.

ITD said it would provide more detailed pay comparisons, vacancy-trend data and projected retention outcomes to the committee before it acts on any targeted CEC recommendation.