Department of Public Service
The Executive Budget recommends:A reduction of 21 FTEs including 19 FTEs in the Regulation of Utilities program and 2 FTEs in the Administration program. The Department’s workforce would be 598 FTEs on March 31, 2002. No explanation is offered for these cuts. According to GOER and DOB all position reductions will occur through attrition.
A $139,300 decrease in the adjusted personal service appropriation for Administration program, which reflects the contractual increases paid in SFY2000-01, while its adjusted non-personal service appropriation, including fringe benefits and indirect costs, is increased by $38,000. Our comparison of the unadjusted non-personal services appropriations for this program, including fringe benefits and indirect costs, shows a $190,555 increase from the SFY2000-01 non-personal service appropriation, mostly in fringe benefits. Generally non-personal service appropriations, including fringe benefit costs decrease when personal service appropriations decrease. No explanation is provided for the non-personal service increase but it may be related to a reimbursement to General State charges for the cost of fringe benefits related to the contractual increases paid in SFY2000-01 or it may be for unspecified contractual services which could include lease payments. This issue should be clarified with DPS management.
A $460,500 decrease in the adjusted personal service appropriation, which reflects the contractual increases paid in SFY2000-01, for the Regulation of Utilities program. Unfortunately the adjusted personal service appropriation for the Regulation of Utilities program does not specify which programs receive which adjusted personal service cuts. Based on a comparison of the unadjusted personal service appropriations within this program the largest personal service cuts are in the Cable Television program with smaller cuts in the Pipeline Safety and Public Service programs.
A $1,092,200 increase in the adjusted non-personal service appropriation for the Regulation of Utilities program while the unadjusted non-personal service appropriation, including fringe benefits and indirect costs, is increased by a little under $2 million. There is also a new $80,000 special revenue–other appropriation for services and expenses associated with underground facilities safety training, which could be used for personal or non-personal services. It is likely that this appropriation will fund contractual services. These increases in the non-personal service appropriations in the Regulation of Utilities program appear to be much larger than what is necessary for the reduced number of positions in the program. Some of this increase may be related to a reimbursement to General State Charges for the cost of fringe benefits related to the contractual increases paid in SFY2000-01 or it may be for unspecified additional contractual services which could include lease payments. These issues, particularly what programs within the Regulation of Utilities program will lose positions and the specific use of the increased non-personal service appropriations, should be clarified with DPS management.
The $332,700 maintenance undistributed appropriation, which can be use for personal and non-personal service costs, for the Pipeline Safety program is also eliminated. We believe the large increase in the non-personal service appropriation in this program indicates that this $332,700 maintenance undistributed appropriation is now included in the non-personal service appropriation for that program and that it is likely used for contractual services.
| Department of Public Service | ||||
| Program Details-State Operations | ||||
| Enacted | Proposed | Change in | Percent | |
| Program | 2000-01 Budget | 2001-02 Budget | Appropriation | Change |
| All Funds | $60,816,300 | $65,399,000 | $4,582,700 | 7.5% |
| Special Revenue-Federal | $1,149,000 | $1,445,000 | $296,000 | 25.8% |
| Special Revenue-Other | $59,667,300 | $63,954,000 | $4,286,700 | 7.2% |
| Administration (SRO) | $9,467,400 | $9,986,000 | $518,600 | 5.5% |
| Personal Services | $5,129,400 | $5,457,000 | $327,600 | 6.4% |
| Nonpersonal Services | $2,572,300 | $2,600,000 | $27,700 | 1.1% |
| Fringe Benefits | $1,546,700 | $1,710,000 | $163,300 | 10.6% |
| Indirect Costs | $219,000 | $219,000 | $0 | 0.0% |
| Regulation of Utilities | $51,348,900 | $55,413,000 | $4,064,100 | 7.9% |
| Special Revenue-Federal | $1,149,000 | $1,445,000 | $296,000 | 25.8% |
| Special Revenue-Other | $50,199,900 | $53,968,000 | $3,768,100 | 7.5% |
| PSC-Pipeline Safety (SRF) | $1,149,000 | $1,445,000 | $296,000 | 25.8% |
| Personal Services | $494,800 | $521,000 | $26,200 | 5.3% |
| Nonpersonal Services | $183,700 | $738,000 | $554,300 | 301.7% |
| Fringe Benefits | $137,800 | $165,000 | $27,200 | 19.7% |
| Maintenance Undistributed | $332,700 | $0 | ($332,700) | -100.0% |
| Indirect Costs | $0 | $21,000 | $21,000 | 100.0% |
| Cable Television (SRO) | $3,008,100 | $2,963,000 | ($45,100) | -1.5% |
| Personal Services | $1,905,200 | $1,843,000 | ($62,200) | -3.3% |
| Nonpersonal Services | $446,900 | $463,000 | $16,100 | 3.6% |
| Fringe Benefits | $575,000 | $582,000 | $7,000 | 1.2% |
| Indirect Costs | $81,000 | $75,000 | ($6,000) | -7.4% |
| COCOT (SRO) | $352,000 | $517,000 | $165,000 | 46.9% |
| Personal Services | $222,000 | $338,000 | $116,000 | 52.3% |
| Nonpersonal Services | $53,500 | $57,000 | $3,500 | 6.5% |
| Fringe Benefits | $67,000 | $108,000 | $41,000 | 61.2% |
| Indirect Costs | $9,500 | $14,000 | $4,500 | 47.4% |
| Public Service Account (SRO) | $46,839,800 | $50,408,000 | $3,568,200 | 7.6% |
| Personal Services | $28,039,400 | $30,280,000 | $2,240,600 | 8.0% |
| Nonpersonal Services | $9,143,400 | $9,339,000 | $195,600 | 2.1% |
| Fringe Benefits | $8,459,500 | $9,564,000 | $1,104,500 | 13.1% |
| Indirect Costs | $1,197,500 | $1,225,000 | $27,500 | 2.3% |
| Underground Facility Safety (SRO) | $0 | $80,000 | $80,000 | 100.0% |