(The Center Square) – North Carolina state agencies have only eliminated a small percentage of 819 vacant positions that were listed as either “eliminated” or “planned for elimination,” according to state auditor Dave Boliek.
The positions are funded by the state but have not been filled, with the money diverted instead to other purposes within the agencies. As of Feb. 1, only 129 of the positions – 16% – had actually been eliminated, Boliek said.
“The remaining positions continued to generate millions in lapsed salary, underscoring the importance of aligning staffing plans with budgeted positions and actual workforce needs,” Boliek said.
In January, an audit identified $1.04 billion in lapsed salaries across 46 North Carolina state agencies. One of the major reasons the jobs were not filled was that the salaries were not high enough, according to the auditor’s report. The positions include correctional officers, nursing assistants, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and youth counselors.
Five agencies eliminated all of the vacant positions as planned, and two did not eliminate any on their list, Boliek said.
However, some agencies implemented “alternative work strategies” rather than eliminating the specific vacant positions that had been planned for elimination, Boliek said.
The Department of Adult Corrections was one of those agencies.
The North Carolina legislature had identified 505 vacant DAC positions for elimination in Senate Bill 257, Boliek said.
Instead of eliminating those specific positions, DAC eliminated more than1,500 other vacant positions and used the savings to pay for contract nurses and medical providers, the auditor said.
“DAC developed their own methodology to proactively eliminate positions, choosing to target the oldest vacancies first,” the auditor said. “They created a list of positions vacant for the greatest length of time and removed any position that was in the hiring process or undergoing reclassification.”
The different methodology explains why the 462 vacancies originally marked for elimination were not eliminated, Boliek said.
“Overall, the findings show that eliminating long-term vacancies can meaningfully support operations and improve budget transparency, but also that agencies are using varied approaches to actively manage their workforces and resources,” said Boliek. “These practices provide greater budget transparency to policymakers and the public on how tax dollars are being spent.”
