Mineola, NY - A report released by Eric Naughton, Director of the independent office of Legislative Budget Review, concludes that low starting salaries, skepticism about job security, and the county's lengthy hiring practices are contributing to a chronic problem in hiring employees that is eroding services within the county and resulting in increased costs for overtime and outside contractors.

Mr. Naughton's report, which is the result of a Staffing Summit held June 14, by the Budget Review Committee, makes several recommendations that he believes could lead to filling more than 900 positions that are currently budgeted, but vacant throughout county government.

Vital among those positions are 33 in the Department of Assessment, 11 in the County Attorney's office and nine in the County Treasurer's office that could help alleviate the backlog in tax certioraris which are costing the county millions of dollars each year and threatening the loss of $5 million in state aid from the Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA). NIFA is requiring that the county provide evidence that it is moving toward reduction in the number of its tax certioraris before turning over the $5 million in aid.

The recommendations call for:

• Coordination by the administration in the hiring process so that departments are not competing with each other and vacancies are filled where there is the greatest need and/or financial benefit (reimbursed or revenue-producing positions).
• Hiring a consultant to look at salary structure to determine if the perceived low salaries reflect actuality. Experts are needed to compare job descriptions and titles.
• The county should ensure that its benefits are competitive.
• Improve its investment in its employees by increasing the level of training provided and/or offer tuition reimbursement.
• Eliminate the residency requirement in order to expand the pool of candidates.
• Maintain the Graded Service Plan as is, but hire at the higher step for the hard-to-fill titles. The Graded Service Plan includes two initial six-month steps, 0A and 0B. Step 0A is more than 25% below Step 1 for each grade.

Under Mr. Naughton's plan, hiring employees at the higher start Step 1, rather than 0A or 0B, would have no impact on the current budget since the funds have already been allocated for these positions. And, the cost to the county to move current employees to titles at a higher step, so their salaries would be in line with the new hires, would cost the county approximately $146,000. "Adopting this procedure may facilitate the hiring process for the many vacant positions existing within the county," said Mr. Naughton. Salaries that are not competitive are also making it difficult for the county to civilianize operations and implement some of the other initiatives in the Four-Year Plan submitted to NIFA. Civilianizing 49 positions, as called for in the Four-Year Plan, would result in a saving of $3.4 million over the next three years.

"We believe the $146,000 is a minimal investment for a potential savings of $3.4 million. It is vitally important that we undertake whatever measures are necessary to ensure that these positions are filled as quickly as possible with qualified individuals. If that means eliminating a level of starting steps, or the residency requirement, then that's what needs to be done," said Legislator Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck) on behalf of the Democratic majority. "The administration has allowed this problem to go on for too long at a very dear cost to the residents of Nassau County in terms of services and financial security."