Wyoming budget committee asks for report on contract employee use in state government
December 8, 2009 by Phil Noble
Filed under Today's News
by Phil Noble, Cowboy State Free Press Bureau Chief
CHEYENNE–During presentation of his budget to the legislature’s Joint Interim Appropriations Committee, Gov. Dave Freudenthal alluded to the fact that the use of what are called At Will Employee Contract, or AWEC, employees has grown in the past few years, a practice he tried to stop when he came into office almost seven years ago.
AWEC’s are not full-fledged state employees, although state agencies often use them in place of regular employees. An AWEC employee is paid under a contract with the state and receives no benefits. They are also not counted as regular employees, making it difficult if not impossible for the JAC to pin down how many employees the state really has.
Freudenthal called the growth in the use of AWEC’s in the last few years “AWEC creep,” saying he thought he had the problem under control at one time and thought state agencies were reporting them in their budgets. JAC Co-Chairman Sen. Phil Nicholas, R-Albany Co., thought so, too. But he found out otherwise in response to a question he asked Legislative Services office staffer Bill Mai. “No,” said Mai, “there is apparently no such requirement.”
Freudenthal told the committee the legislature should enact changes to “clean up the problem.” But, he said, he doesn’t want to give up the use of AWEC’s totally because “they can be a good management tool.”
Later in the committee’s hearings, Nicholas asked budget staff to prepare a report detailing the use of AWEC labor department-by-department along with a history of AWEC use.
In discussing the problem, Freudenthal gave praise to two of his staffers for their skill in what he called “managing the hiring freeze.” The Governor enacted a hiring freeze last year when the economy turned down, and put his Chief of Staff, Chris Boswell and the Director of the Department of Administration and Information, Mike McVay, in charge of overseeing it.
Freudenthal said the pair had done such a good job they were “the two most vilified employees in state government.”
This sounds like a loop hole problem. Having made my living in Wyoming as a management consultant and mediator i find it difficult to compete with services provided by the state for no charge through Wyoming Business Council and Small Business Development Services. I think contracting should be tracked but with declining budgets, it would seem like there will be more of need than ever. Sounds like it has been abused and has skewed the accounting. I appreciate the Gov and the Appropriations Committee keeping an eye on any expenditures.
Just a thought. This sounds like a loop hole problem. Having lived in Wyoming most of my life and having made my living as a management consultant, facilitator and mediator for the last twelve years, I find it difficult to compete with free services provided by community colleges like workforce training. I am also competing in a limited market with Small Business Development Services for strategic planning, business and marketing plans. I have no problem with consultants like myself working on contact with the state. We pay our own insurance and taxes so that has to be a benefit.
I think contracting should be tracked for budget accuracy but with declining budgets, it would seem like there will be more of need than ever. Sounds like it has been abused and has skewed the accounting. I appreciate the Gov and the Appropriations Committee keeping an eye on any loop hole expenditures.