The hiring freeze Gov. Bill Ritter unveiled in late September to help head off a mounting state budget shortfall turned out to be more of a chill.
The governor’s office estimates that it has frozen 463 spots and has saved the state $12 million. A Denver Post review of hundreds of applications for exemptions shows that in three months, Ritter’s office approved 326 new hires and promotions — out of 371 requests — that could cost the state more than $12 million.
Ritter’s rules say the freeze does not apply to health and safety positions, jobs caring for state wards or required by caseload demands, or positions that, unfilled, would disrupt an “essential state function” or present legal liabilities.
Among the health care providers and criminal investigators that were granted exemptions were less obvious matches for those criteria: two contract lobbyists, a scratch-off lottery ticket salesperson, seasonal potato inspectors and a bevy of administrative assistants.
Ritter has since asked departments to consider more ways to balance their budgets.
While agencies wince at another year of going without, the number and type of state employees hired during the freeze have Republicans questioning Ritter’s abilities to handle the budget crisis.
Exemption applications don’t paint a clear enough picture of the freeze, said governor spokesman Evan Dreyer.
“You also have to take into account the cost avoidance,” Dreyer said. “How many positions were not filled because the department didn’t even bring forward an exemption?”
Ritter is expected to unveil another phase of budget balancing plans this week. Projections worsened in December, putting the state as much as $604 million short in the fiscal year that ends in June and another $400 million short for the next fiscal year.
Between Sept. 25, when the freeze was announced, and Oct. 1, when it took effect, the state hired an additional 121 employees, more than double the 56 hired the previous week. Since the freeze took effect, the pace has slowed to an average of about 20 new employees a week, not counting promotions and transfers, which also require review.
The new hires — 88 of which are totally new jobs — have been approved for all corners of state government, from the Department of Natural Resources at the top of the list to the nine people OK’d to join the Colorado Historical Society’s payroll.
Calling the governor’s freeze a publicity stunt, state Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said the state needs to curb hiring more.
“It sounds like they’re blowing off how serious a situation this is,” he said. “Gov. Ritter needs to rein in his agencies that still have a help-wanted sign up. We can’t afford to hire any new people.”
The Department of Corrections lost 588 positions as the state budget tanked between 2001 and 2003. It has gotten 80 of those positions back, according to agency spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti.
Previous staffing cuts make the positions approved by Ritter’s office — such as two administrative assistants at a combined price tag of $52,140 — more critical, Sanguinetti said.
If correctional officers don’t “have to do their own payroll, do not have to do their own paperwork, they can spend more time with offenders, which goes directly to public safety,” she said.
Many new programs planned during the 2008 legislative session are moving forward, but more slowly, agencies say.
Ritter approved one of two employees who were OK’d by lawmakers in 2008 for the Transportation Department’s “corporate university” program, which aims to centralize the training and better track its costs, according to transportation spokeswoman Stacey Stegman.
Even though Ritter’s office approved 44 transportation positions at a payroll cost of up to $1.5 million, none have been filled yet, Stegman said.
Other programs won approval for all their requested exemptions, such as six positions in a new school safety resource center within the Department of Public Safety, potentially costing the state $226,200. The program will work with pilot schools to develop tailored safety plans.
Many of the approved exemptions are paid for through cash funds, money that specific divisions raise through fees to pay for themselves.
In budget crises of yesteryear, lawmakers have raided those funds to help balance the budget.
Ritter has said he has similar designs this year on part of those funds, up to $300 million.
So while the Department of Agriculture raised the $79,430 to hire five seasonal potato inspectors itself, that money is also at the legislature’s disposal as it tries to deal with budget cuts elsewhere, according to Tom Lipetzky, director of agriculture’s division of markets. Even with the five additional inspectors, who check problems with shipments to settle industry disputes, the program remains understaffed, he added.
The Division of Wildlife received an exemption to spend $47,700 on a lobbyist. While the DOW also draws money from a cash fund, if it spends even $1 on anything unrelated to wildlife — like giving money to the state’s general fund — it jeopardizes $12 million from the federal government, said Mike King, deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources.
The lobbyist, King said, is especially important during the legislative session and a job that most state agencies already have filled.
“That legislative liaison position is critical,” King said. “Wildlife has a boatload of bills that are impacting them. They require a tremendous amount of constituency outreach.”
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
