NC House budget writers seek to rein in NCDOT pay raises
State House budget writers are seeking to close off what they see as a pay raise bonanza in the transportation department, but they face substantial opposition within the chamber.
In a budget committee meeting Wednesday that lasted several hours, the budget writers amended their spending plan to prevent future pay increases — except for Division of Motor Vehicles workers who weren’t included in the $55 million worth of increases previously handed out.
The provision didn’t last long; the chairman of the committee handling transportation spending persuaded his colleagues to strip it in a floor vote Thursday.
“Why try to go in and punish the whole department of 11,000 because maybe one or two people made an error?” Rep. John Torbett, a Gaston County Republican and the committee chairman, said in an interview after the vote.
The budget provision would have also allowed the NCDOT to spend $7.5 million in highway funds to increase pay for DMV employees, who also would be eligible for the 1% pay increase budget writers have proposed for most state workers this year. But those NCDOT employees who benefited from the $55 million in raises would not have been eligible for any further raises this year or next.
The budget provision would have also ended for NCDOT the pay flexibility state lawmakers gave it and some other agencies in last year’s budget. NCDOT would have had to get approval from the Office of State Human Resources for position changes such as reclassifications that typically lead to pay increases.
Budget writers told The News & Observer in March that NCDOT officials had misread that budget provision to mean the department had the authority to use 2 percent of its highway funds to provide the pay raises over the next two years. The budget writers said they intended for the NCDOT to use 2 percent of its payroll expenses for the increases.
The difference is sizable. Budget writers intended for NCDOT to use roughly $35 million over two years; NCDOT officials said they thought they could use up to $152 million.
By late last year, NCDOT had handed out raises worth $55 million annually to 7,000 employees. Nearly 5,300 of them had received double-digit pay increases, some as high as the 60 percent range.
Rep. Donny Lambeth, a chief budget writer and Forsyth County Republican, said he and other House leaders will try to restore at least some of the provision as the budget bill continues through the chamber.
“What (NCDOT) did is simply wrong and an indication of a government agency abusing their authority,” he said in a text message to a reporter.
NCDOT officials have said they needed wide-scale adjustments, particularly for engineers and equipment operators, because the pay had fallen far behind the market. NCDOT officials cited high vacancies in some regional offices, particularly in the Triangle.
They also said that lawmakers gave little indication they had a problem with the pay increases. Torbett had said he supported NCDOT’s interpretation, and on Thursday told the N&O the department’s efforts worked.
“We’ve leveled that now, we’re not seeing the hemorrhaging of employees, if you would, leaving DOT,” Torbett said.
The increases also rankled the state human resources office, which said in a presentation to legislative staff in February that the raises were far higher than in other agencies led by Gov. Roy Cooper’s cabinet, and created pay disparities that could hurt morale across the rest of state government.
Budget writers included the changes to NCDOT pay in a broad amendment Wednesday dealing with compensation for teachers and state employees. The NCDOT pay changes had drawn no discussion before that amendment passed.
This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 10:38 AM.