(POSTED 3/22/07)
In 2006, the Department of Land and Natural Resources got a big bump in its budget and in its workforce. From an operating funds level of roughly $77 million in the 2005-2006 fiscal year, the department’s operating budget rose $15 million, to $92 million. And the number of full-time employment positions authorized rose by 36.5 – to 718.5 from 682.
That’s the good news.
On the downside, the DLNR continues to have a problem filling all the positions it is authorized to hire. Of the 682 authorized positions at the end of fiscal 2005-06 (June 30, 2006), 61.5 – 9 percent – were vacant. Three months into the 2006-07 fiscal year (September 30, 2006), the vacancy rate was even higher: 90 of the 718.5 authorized positions were vacant, for a rate of 12.5 percent.
All totaled, the number of positions the department has to fill come to 831.99, which includes not only the permanent positions, but also 87.49 temporary and 26 trust fund posts. Of those, at the end of February, 147, or nearly 18 percent, are vacant.
According to the figures in the earlier (end of September) report, some divisions are fully or near-fully staffed. Examples include the Division of Aquatic Resources (one of 43 positions vacant as of September 30, 2006) and the Commission on Water Resource Management (24 of 24 positions filled).
The engineering branch at the DLNR (consisting of two lines in the state budget, for Prevention of Natural Disasters and Water and Land Development) has a total of 8 authorized positions, an increase of 3 over fiscal year 2006. With just 4 positions filled, it has a vacancy rate of 50 percent.
The Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement had the next highest percentage – and absolute number – of vacancies: 25 percent, representing 29 of 134 authorized positions. Then comes the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, where 16 positions out of 79 authorized gave it a vacancy rate of 20 percent.
“The department has been improving,” Ward said, despite the increase in vacancies from September to February. “We’re energetically moving forward in filling those vacancies. It’s a high priority with us.”
As of mid-March, Ward said, the Department of Human Resources Development was recruiting candidates for 66 positions, including some posts that will be difficult to fill because they require “specialized skills or specific degrees or course work.”
The remaining vacancies “are in the approval-to-fill request process, internal recruitment process, or interview process,” she said.
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