By Elizabeth Dinan
Portsmouth Herald
CONCORD, N.H. – The New Hampshire Department of Corrections identified a $1.8 million shortfall in its overtime budget this year, which officials attributed to staffing shortages. However, the agency later found $2.1 million elsewhere in its budget to cover those overtime costs.
The DOC asked the Governor’s Executive Council to approve the transfer of the found $2.1 million, in smaller amounts in dozens of DOC budget lines, into to the overtime account to cover the shortage through the end of the fiscal year.
DOC spokesman Jeff Lyons said the underlying problem is that the state corrections department averages about 60 vacancies a month and “in order to operate a safe and secure prison, we need to maintain a minimum staffing level.” He said the DOC actively tries to recruit new corrections officers and receives 30 to 40 applications a month, but only one or two of those applicants “make it through the entire process.”
Before anyone is hired to work for the DOC, Lyons said, they need “a clean criminal history,” to pass fitness tests, complete a 9-week pre-service corrections academy and pass a polygraph exam.
“In the meantime, our staff are growing older and many are retiring,” he said. “We see about four to six retirements per month.”
Also contributing to the staff shortage, Lyons said, is that, “Many people who want to enter the law enforcement field do not pick corrections as their first choice, although we consider it to be a rewarding profession with a lot of growth opportunity.”
“Our officers have to meet the exact same standards as a state trooper or a local police officer,” he said.
But New Hampshire corrections officers salaries start at $33,737 a year, plus benefits, while “a new employee might be able to make a better wage with state or local police,” Lyons said.
“This has been an ongoing challenge for us, despite our aggressive recruitment efforts,” said the DOC spokesman. “And since we average around 60 vacant corrections officers positions each month, we need to pay overtime to our correctional staff to cover all the posts.”
Lyons said the DOC is “always analyzing the way the positions are used.”
“Several of our probation-parole officers, who were previously corrections officers, can fill in on some shifts,” he said. “But then they also receive overtime.”
In a detailed proposal to the Executive Council, the DOC showed, to the dollar, where it found the $2.1 million to cover overtime in this year’s budget. Included is $34,200 in unused holiday pay, a $200,000 surplus in a utilities budget, $16,280 by deferring the purchase of equipment and a $125,000 surplus in a line item for the cost of housing female inmates at the Strafford County jail.
Asked if the found $2.1 million indicates fat in the DOC budget, Lyons said, “We certainly do not have fat in the budget.”
“Some of the transfers come from the unpaid salaries of vacant positions,” he said. “Others come from savings in our medical budget. Sometimes they come from the equipment fund. We watch our budget like a hawk to look for inefficiencies where we can.”
The dozens of DOC line item transfers, filling 20 pages, were first approved by the Legislative Fiscal Committee. The transfers were approved by the Governor’s Executive Council on May 4.
When the fiscal year ends June 30, Lyons said, “We will start with a clean slate on July 1, 2016.”
“Next year, we have received $3.5 million (for overtime),” he said, “But unless we can fill our vacant positions, we will likely be seeking more transfers in FY ’17.”
Copyright 2016 Portsmouth Herald