FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: February 17, 2025
Time Requested: 03:57 PM |
| Agency: |
Agriculture, WV Department of |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 1566 |
Introduced |
HB2497 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
State Personnel; Uniform Laws |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
GENERAL
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund
Legislation creates:
Increases Existing Expenses
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
HB2497 establishes a requirement that state employee compensation be increased based on US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) locality pay areas. Presently, for WV, there are counties in the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH, WV area (Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Ohio) and Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-WV-PA area (Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan). The 2025 schedules for these clusters of counties call for locality pay of 21.03% and 33.94% above base pay, respectively.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2025
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2026
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
0 |
0 |
1,169,904 |
| Personal Services |
0 |
0 |
1,169,904 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
Based upon a review of the geographic distribution of current staff under Dept. 1400 (as recorded in wvOASIS), and applying the 2025 locality pay adjustments noted above, 58 positions were identified that could be impacted at cost of $1,169,904 to adjust base salary as well as increased employer PERS and FICA contributions. This would be the minimal amount needed each year to maintain this differential.
Given the proposed July 1, 2027, implementation date, actual costs would be higher at that time when considering factors such as future staff demographics, distribution of positions, FLSA salary thresholds, discretionary or across-the-board salary adjustments, and/or likely increases to OPM locality pay in 2026 and 2027. While it is difficult to estimate the FY28 impact based on these variables, it is a reasonable assumption that the July 1, 2027 cost (as well as cost for subsequent years) would be higher than the estimate above.
Full General Revenue funding would need to be made available to support the increase for all impacted positions, which would require an increase to baseline funding.
Memorandum
While the legislation references "all state employees" it is unclear if this is intended for only full-time employees (i.e. those paid as 1.00 FTE or a percentage of FTE with benefits, leave accruals, etc.).
The proposed language indicates "...the legislature mandates a Locality Pay increase to the base pay of all state employees who position falls within those areas designated." It is unclear as to whether this applies to employees who are officially headquartered in those regions, or if it extends to employees headquartered outside those locations but have duty assignments in those regions.
It is also unclear if this proposal supersedes the authority of the Commissioner of Agriculture to determine appropriate compensation of the agency. WV Code ยง19-1-3 states, "He or she shall fix [employees'] compensation and may require them to give bond for the faithful performance of their duties."
While the proposed legislation provides for increasing employee compensation in targeted areas, it does not take into account other increases that are necessary to maintain interagency pay equity between comparable positions in different work locations or between supervisor-subordinate relationships across geographic areas, for example. It could also potentially impact the ability to adequately fill vacancies for positions outside of the locality pay-driven areas.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Laryssa Hoskins on behalf of Alan Clemans, CFO
Email Address: aclemans@wvda.us