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State employee numbers increase Thursday, Jan 19, 2006 By Aaron Sadler Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The number of Arkansas state employees increased by more than 1,000 last year, with state officials attributing the spike to enrollment growth at the state's colleges and universities. A report presented to the Legislative Council's Personnel Committee on Wednesday showed Arkansas had 51,853 state employees in December, compared to 50,794 December 2004, an increase of 1,059 workers. About 80 percent of the new employees are at the state's institutions of higher education. The key element in the increase is enrollment increases, said Steve Floyd, deputy director of the state Department of Higher Education. College enrollment is up 34 percent in the past 15 years, higher education officials said last month. "Enrollment over each year sets a new high number for the number of students in higher education, and the only way you can handle that is through more faculty," Floyd said Wednesday. The state payroll is projected to be $2.7 billion this fiscal year, including employees at all state agencies and higher education institutions. The total does not include public school staff. Sen. Steve Faris, D-Malvern, said employment figures are somewhat misleading since college hiring fluctuate. Some colleges may have needed part-time faculty that weren't necessary a year ago, said Faris, co-chairman of the Personnel Committee. Floyd said some institutions, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for one, also have provisional positions supported by federal grants. "They typically receive grants that in any one year would call for several research positions," he said. Rep. Benny Petrus, D-Stuttgart, elected House speaker-designate last week for the 2007 regular session, said he didn't mind the new positions for higher education but worried about growth at other state agencies. "It bothers me that since I've been here, I've just seen that number creep and creep up," Petrus said. In another matter Wednesday, the committee lowered the Department of Education's salary recommendation for a prospective employee at the agency. The department sought a $70,235 annual salary for an applicant for a computer programmer position. That salary would be equal to the annual pay of a programmer who has been with the department since 1998. State Rep. Bob Mathis, D-Hot Springs, and others objected to starting a new hire at the same rate as a department veteran. Mathis said the department also should have taken into consideration that its pick had been unemployed since May and probably would take the job for much less than $70,000. The committee voted to set the salary at $64,000. Also, the committee approved a request from Crawford County Circuit Judge Gary Cottrell to increase pay for his case coordinator. The judged asked for a re-evaluation of the employee's pay for the first time since she was hired in May 2003. The committee increased the employee's annual salary from $27,156 to $29,088. The committee rejected a request from Cottrell to increase the $48,353 salary of his court reporter, noting that the salary was already higher than the pay-grade maximum. |
