Departing Gov. Mike Beebe on Thursday recommended eliminating 49 positions in the state Department of Information Systems, and state officials said axing the positions would save the state at least $900,000 per year.
The Democratic governor proposed axing these positions as part of his proposed budgets for fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017, after state officials conducted a detailed review of the agency to identify positions and spending that could be reduced or eliminated "due to agency costs for services increasing beyond a sustainable level," said state budget administrator Brandon Sharp.
The department provides information technology services for 440 customers throughout the state, including state agencies, school districts, small municipalities and commissions.
Officials for some other state agencies have complained about the department's bills for providing services to them over the years, saying they're excessive.
The total cost for salaries and benefits for these 49 positions targeted for elimination is $3.6 million, according to state records.
The department's director, Claire Bailey, submitted her resignation last month, citing health reasons, according to the governor's office. She had been in the post since 2004.
Bailey submitted her resignation after Beebe ordered the state Department of Finance and Administration to conduct a performance audit of the agency. An educational nonprofit had said that the Department of Information Systems was using slow and antiquated copper wire infrastructure to deliver broadband.
House Speaker-designate Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, pressed state finance department officials Thursday for details about how they concluded that these 49 positions should be eliminated.
Paul Louthian, the state's accounting administrator, told lawmakers that state officials started looking at the department's operations three months ago and met with the department's deputy director and two operations managers.
"The challenge that we put to them was to give us a core network of people that could administrate the email and Internet services that they give the state and do that in a manner that we could sustain that operation going forward and stay in compliance with federal guidelines that we have to see that all costs are recovered and allocated in the manner that they need to be allocated," he said.
"That process took about 10 days. There was a lot of back and forth and there was a lot of discussion," Louthian said. "We finalized that about a week and a day ago." The jobs that would be eliminated under this proposal range all the way from deputy director to administrative assistants, and "I have to tell you that it wasn't easy," Louthian said. Five of the 49 positions are currently vacant.
He added that this proposal would eliminate about 20 percent of the department's positions.
According to the state's list of jobs recommended for elimination, a deputy director with an annual salary of $126,531, a customer relations management administrator with an annual salary of $111,195, a division director with an annual salary of $102,806, a chief security officer with an annual salary of $88,957 and a general counsel with an annual salary of $83,676 would be among the employees who would lose their jobs.
When asked about Beebe's proposal to axe these jobs at the department, Republican Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson said that "I just want to look at it."
"I'm really grateful for the work that they have done on the budget. It's a very serious effort, but I want to take a fresh look at it and we'll certainly study that," he said.
A section on 11/14/2014