DENVER—Despite implementing a hiring freeze last fall, Colorado is still hanging a help wanted sign.
The state is looking to hire about 140 people for jobs ranging from nurses and police dispatchers to prison librarians and vocational instructors, even though Gov. Bill Ritter has already ordered departments to cut their budgets by 10 percent.
The positions have all either been approved as exemptions to a hiring freeze or are jobs at state colleges and universities, which Ritter doesn’t have authority over.
Republican legislative leaders have questioned the effectiveness of the hiring freeze but stopped short of saying what new hires should be off limits during a recession.
Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said he and House Minority Leader Mike May wanted to let Ritter know that they’re watching and that the administration needs to justify every exception. “There needs to be real caution and discipline given the nature of the choices that this state faces,” said Penry, who is hoping to challenge Ritter as the Republican gubernatorial nominee next year.
Ritter says the number of state employees has dropped from 31,208 in September 2008 to 30,646 on July 1. Still, Ritter’s spokesman Evan Dreyer said it’s impossible for the government to stop all hiring during a recession when he said more people are relying on state services—such as Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance for the poor.
All new hires are supposed to be approved by the governor’s staff but the state auditor says they haven’t done enough to analyze the fiscal impact of filling positions exempted from the freeze.
Dreyer said the budget problems now facing the state are much bigger than a hiring freeze can fix.
Last month, legislative economists announced that tax collections had fallen off more than expected—a total of $1 billion since the recession began—and that $384 million would have to be cut from this year’s budget.
Ritter followed up by asking departments to come up with plans to cut 10 percent, although he said some departments may end up being cut by more than that and other less.
“We’re looking at eliminating entire programs. That kind of cutting will be much more aggressive and much deeper than any savings we will ever achieve from a hiring freeze,” Dreyer said.
At least 27 states have enacted hiring freezes because of the recession. Hiring for critical nurses and prison guards usually continues in tough times but across the country The Associated Press has found that some states with freezes were still hiring for jobs like zookeepers, golf-course groundskeepers and dog wardens.
In Colorado, the exemptions include a driver’s license examiner in Glenwood Springs, an architect to oversee construction at all state parks, and custodians and dining hall workers in state veterans homes in Rifle and Florence.
None have been called off because of the latest budget news.
Department of Revenue spokesman Mark Couch said the driver’s license examiner position was exempted because it involves public safety and because the employee will spend at least half the time dealing with the public.
The new architect’s job was created because state auditors found that the state park’s current system of relying on regional staff to oversee new construction and repairs wasn’t efficient, said Ken Brink, assistant director for field operations for Colorado State Parks.
He said the agency—which is mostly funded by fees paid by park users—eliminated another vacant position to create the architect’s position, which will pay between $6,462 and $9,273 a month.
Because most new state construction has been halted due the recession, the architect will mostly be overseeing renovations at first. Brink said the new hire will also develop a longrange plan to maintain the park system which he thinks will help the state save money.
“It’s one that we think is going to help us cope with the shortage we’re dealing with,” Brink said.
The Department of Human Services, which oversees the veterans homes, says that it would have to pay higher-priced employees overtime to clean and serve meals if it didn’t hire kitchen staffers and custodians. Spokeswoman Julia Martinez said cleaning also helps prevent the spread of infections.
“The residents are elderly, sick and disabled veterans. We value having a clean, safe environment because this is their home,” she said.
The department is also planning to hire three accountants. Monthly pay for those positions starts at $4,861. Martinez said they’re needed because the department receives a lot of federal aid and the state risks losing the money if bills aren’t processed on time.
State prisons are also looking to hire over 60 nurses, nurse’s aides, doctors and counselors around the state. In addition to the health care workers, the corrections department is also looking for three librarians as well as seven people to train inmates in fields such as computers, construction and landscaping and renewable energy.
Department spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said both the trainers and the librarians—who help inmates studying for their GED or doing assignments for vocational programs—are essential to helping prepare inmates for life after prison.
“We want them to have an actual career path so they can get on that and not come back,” she said.
