(The Center Square) – Uncompetitive pay for correctional officers, nursing assistants, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and youth counselors contributed to $1.04 billion in lapsed salaries across 46 North Carolina state agencies, according to an audit.
The Office of State Budget and Management, part of the administration of first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, defines lapsed salary “as the amount not expended for salary during the entire period in which the position was vacant.” The report from the Division of Accountability, Value and Efficiency said there were 8,846 vacancies on Aug. 6.
“Long-term vacancies muddy the waters of government expenditures,” said first-term Republican state Auditor Dave Boliek. “In some agencies, you have tax dollars meant to go to a person serving a valuable state need, but instead that spot sits empty for years and the money goes elsewhere.”
The vacancies are funded by state appropriations, specific agency-generated receipts, and federal funding grants, Boliek said.
“While state agencies do expend generated lapsed salary, the total $1.04 billion generated does not necessarily represent actual dollars that were available and/or used by state agencies for other purposes, or total funds available in the future if long-term vacancies were eliminated,” the auditor’s office says. “However, the total raises real questions about the transparency of state agency spending.”
The lapsed salaries analysis led to a letter from Sen. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on General Government.
“Approximately $246 million of that total represents placeholder positions never intended to be filled,” Everitt wrote in his Wednesday letter. “Another $232 million involves receipt-funded or federally funded positions. The dashboard also includes recently filled roles and positions planned for elimination, making the overall number fundamentally inaccurate.”
Everitt also took issue with the lack of scrutiny for spending with “private organizations without competitive processes or public oversight.”
And he wrote, “Moreover, let’s not lose sight of the core issue: 62.5% of these so-called ‘lapsed’ positions are vacant because compensation is not competitive.”
Boliek said four agencies outpace the others:
• Department of Health and Human Services, 3,074 vacancies generating $375 million in lapsed salary.
• Department of Adult Corrections, 2,817 vacancies generating $228.6 million in lapsed salary.
• Department of Transportation, 838 vacancies generating $78.6 million in lapsed salary.
• Department of Commerce, 684 vacancies, generating $226.1 million in lapsed salary.
The auditor offered examples to save taxpayer dollars.
On one end, eliminating positions vacant for one year or more would cut 4,514 and create an estimated $138 million in state appropriations savings, allowing the potential reallocation of $79 million in receipts, Boliek said.
In another example, the elimination of positions vacant for five years or more without federal funds or unfunded placeholder positions would cut 140 job vacancies. This would net an estimated $1.9 million in state appropriations savings and allow potential reallocation of $4.5 million in receipts.
“This first government efficiency report provides lawmakers and the public with needed transparency, and valuable data to make strategic, fiscally responsible decisions for North Carolina’s future,” Boliek said. “It includes several different options to improve government efficiency, from cuts to job vacancies, to increases in areas where additional resources may be necessary.”
