R.I. government workforce swells to 14,058

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Here's a little detail that escaped notice in the hectic, months-long run-up to the Nov. 6 election: The state workforce has swelled to its highest level in a decade.

There were 13,846 people on the state payroll when the current state budget year began on July 1. By the end of October, that number had grown to 14,058, according to the House fiscal office.

The last time Rhode Island had that many state workers (more specifically, "full-time equivalents") was in 2009, when the bottom dropped out of the economy and then-Gov. Donald Carcieri was forced to slash state spending midyear, amid howls from public employee unions facing the threat of layoffs and shutdown days.

What could explain the recent surge in hiring in the final year of Gov. Gina Raimondo's first four-year term?

Depends on who you ask. State lawmakers authorized some new positions in the departments of Revenue and Transportation, for example.

But calendar year 2018 began with an offer of up to $40,000 in one-time retirement incentives to longtime state workers willing to leave the payroll by mid-April.

More than 360 took the buyout, which was billed at the time as a relatively small, but important, piece in the Raimondo administration's effort to produce $25 million in legislatively required savings during the last fiscal year.

It was clear from the beginning that the state would have to fill some of the retirees' jobs, but a briefing paper that key Raimondo aides provided to legislative budget writers in April said: "Administration committed to holding approx. 100 [of these] positions vacant."

The projected savings from leaving the 100 jobs vacant, and hiring lower-salaried workers in place of some departing longtimers, was $5 million.

There is always a gap — sometimes a significant one — between the number of "authorized" positions in state agencies and colleges and the historically lower number of positions filled at any given time.

For the current budget year, known as FY19, state lawmakers authorized 15,209.7 "full-time equivalent" positions. That translates into 49.5 more "authorized" positions than a year earlier, but 216.8 fewer positions than Raimondo sought in her budget proposal to lawmakers last winter.

But here's another way to look at the numbers: By the end of October, there were 285.6 more "full-time equivalents" on the state payroll than there were at the same point two years earlier, and 388.3 more than there were at the same point in the year Raimondo took office. 

With the state less than halfway through the current budget year, and already facing a potential $42-million deficit, House Finance Committee Chairman Marvin Abney is more than a tad concerned about the job count.

“I am aware there are key functions and revenue initiatives for which new staff were authorized," he told The Journal last week. "However, it is also important to ensure only the highest priority positions are being filled, particularly in light of the current year budget shortfall."

"The opportunity to revisit those priorities ... was created with the voluntary retirement program; it should not be missed," he said. 

The Department of Administration chose not to respond to Political Scene inquiries about the employee count for the period that ended Oct. 27. The designated spokeswoman, Amanda Clarke, opted to talk instead about the state's job count in December of each year, which, she said, "tends to be a higher point-in-time count on average."

Why skip ahead to December?

"There is not much difference between October and December," she said in an email. "Over the past five years the number of filled FTEs in December has hovered between 13,700-14,000."

"Much of the increase in recent hiring has been connected," she said, "with addressing critical service needs in direct care and front-line staff including case workers and child protective investigators" at the Department of Children, Youth and Families; hospital staff in the Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals; and customer service personnel at the Department of Motor Vehicles. 

"There was also a recent increase in positions at the higher education institutions. We do not think the current number of FTEs, which is generally consistent with historical staffing levels, reflects any trend."

Everything is relative, of course. Looking back two decades, the state payroll peaked in 2002, with an average that year of 15,627 filled positions. Then came the cuts. "We have steadily been restoring positions to meet the service demands on the agencies," Clarke said.

It remains unclear how many of the 365 longtime state workers who took the Raimondo administration "buyout" have been replaced.

"We do not currently have this information," Clarke said last week. But she pegged the net savings, after payouts to the departing employees, at $5.4 million.  

For what it's worth: The House Finance Committee has scheduled an off-session meeting for Thursday to get an update on the state's budget status, including the hiring surge.

Hearn runs for town council

State Rep. Joy Hearn, who did not seek reelection to the House seat she has held for the last decade, announced last week that she is running for an open seat on the Barrington Town Council in the town's Feb. 6 special election.

"I believe that I am uniquely qualified to understand the needs of local government," said Hearn, citing "the depth and breadth" of her work as a member of the House Finance Committee and other endeavors.

In a press release announcing her candidacy, Hearn cited improved "accessibility" as one of her goals, including "bicycle, walking, public transportation options, and traffic pattern analysis." Another: "Nurturing our business community through the investigation of how to improve a climate that seems to be struggling at this time."

The opening was created by the resignation in August of Republican Town Councilman Peter Dennehy, a retired Department of Administration lawyer, who had two years remaining in his four-year term.

The two-day candidate declaration period runs from Thursday to Friday. At this point, Democrat Hearn is the only known contender. With one empty seat, the five-member council is currently made up of three Democrats and one Republican who lost his bid for reelection to a Democrat. 

'The Reform Caucus'

House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello's opponents within the Democratic caucus have given themselves a name: "The Reform Caucus."

The 21 Democrats who previously announced they would not vote to reelect Mattiello as speaker when the 2019 General Assembly opens on Jan. 1 reaffirmed their anti-Mattiello stance last week in a press release headlined: "The REFORM CAUCUS Standing Strong." 

Their statement: "The Reform Caucus is committed to changing the way business is conducted at the State House. That can only happen with changes to the House rules so there’s a more democratic process which respects all [of the other] 74 elected representatives and ensures the diverse needs of all constituents served."

"Currently, House rules give broad powers to the Speaker of the House in appointing committee members, committee chairs, and deciding the flow of bills and legislation in the House chamber. This includes suspending the rules so bills are not required to be posted for the public 48 hours before a vote."

The group — which includes 15 women and six men — wants to prohibit the end-of-session suspension of the rules so the public and the legislators can actually read the bills up for committee and floor votes in advance.

A day later, the Rhode Island Democratic Party Women's Caucus issued a statement backing the "reform" drive.

In a related development, a group calling itself "Rhode Islanders for Reform" has been running paid Facebook ads needling state Rep. Christopher Blazejewski of Providence, the deputy majority whip, for siding with those supporting Mattiello's leadership during a closed-door Democratic caucus earlier this month.

While "Chris has always been a champion for working families, and has been on the right side of issues the people he represents believe in .... He's making a mistake. Mattiello has made it clear that he won't give your priorities a fair hearing. Standing with him ... only enables Mattiello to keep all the power in his hands."

The group describes itself this way: "We are a coalition calling for legislative rules reform and a return to representative democracy. We demand legislative oversight and rules changes to put a check on the speaker of the House and ensure that every representative’s voice, and hence their constituents' voices, are heard."

It is not clear who is leading the group, or paying for the ads, which end: "Tell Chris: Vote No on Mattiello."

Blazejewski has not yet responded to Political Scene inquiries.