Governor Moore defends the hiring of Spree to improve national services in the middle of $ 3b deficit problems

Maryland – To argue that there are disadvantages of degradation, in Governor Wes Moore’s first state of the state address, he promised to fill vacancies and grow the state government.

“Building a workforce of dedicated public employees saves us the cost of expensive contractors and external suppliers, and if managed properly, we deliver better results. Spending $ 100 million on inefficiency and patch work policy is not the way to run a government, ”Moore said.

A promise he has already followed through. Earlier this week, FOX45 reported data from the Maryland Department of Labor’s Website, which showed under Governor Wes Moore’s administration, the state’s workforce grew by more than 5,000 employees. Comparative under former Governor Larry Hogan’s first two years in office was almost 2,000 jobs cut.

These counts include all state government, not only the agencies Wes Moore has a direct employment authority over. E.g. Positions for higher education, the judiciary and the legislature. In addition, police officers and teachers do not fall directly under the governor’s employment authority. However, control over the budget and the management agreements still indirectly give him an indirect impact on most state employment.

In order to gain a better understanding of what specific agencies and departments have seen significant growth, FOX45 has requested state staff information from Maryland’s budget and management department in the last three weeks. After originally said information was not available to them, the department provided its latest staff report on Wednesday. According to the report, jobs for executive branch have grown by 3,304 employees under Moore’s management.

Also read | Takeaways from head of government Wes Moore’s ‘State of the State’ address

When pointing to the state’s deficit of $ 3 billion, taxpayer David Williams says it wasn’t time to grow the government.

“This is a self -inflicted wound. This did not have to happen, “Williams said,” just like a family experiencing financial problems, they no longer use a new car. They do not spend more on luxury and what the governor is doing is hiring more people that the state and taxpayers cannot afford. “

Among the agencies, who see the largest staff increases: About 700 positions were added to the Department of Health (MDH), 400 to the Department of Transport (MDOT), 400 to the Department of Human Services (MDHS), 400 to the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), 150 to the State Ministry of Education (MSDE) and 60 to the Department of Environment (MDE).

“Whoever really stood out was the Department of Transport. The Department of Transportation is running a huge deficit, “says Williams,” The governor talks about the red line and these major transport projects, that’s not what the state needs. The citizens of Maryland need better roads. They need better bridges. “

According to the 2024 personal report, the average salary for these jobs is about $ 78,017, while the total benefits cost about $ 51,355. As for 3,304 additional employees, $ 427 million amounts to a year.

Governor Moore’s Office says it’s not about buying a larger government, it’s about making a better one. In the statement, Moore’s office says under Hogan, “vacancies reached extraordinary heights, and services failed to meet the needs of the voters they represent.” The statement continues to say, “Governor Moore finds savings, but not at the expense of critical services, including public security, health care and education.”

Also read | Government Wes Moore promises to reduce state’s federal dependence in the midst of Trump admin ‘chaos’

A requirement, says Williams, he wants to see the test.

“Just spending more money and hiring more people doesn’t mean you are doing better,” says Williams, “there must be a review of each state employee to make sure they have a job needed and that They re actually do something. This is not about Republican or Democrat. This is about fiscal common sense. “

Governor Moore’s office also notes a government’s modernization effort, as they say, will save the state over $ 50 million by cutting spilled expenses. They also point to his newly proposed budget cuts of $ 2 billion. Meanwhile, Republicans are still argued that Moore’s plan is too highly dependent on tax and fee increases and do not do enough to tackle the $ 3 billion deficit.

FOX45 reached the Governor’s office requesting a comment on this story on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this week. On Friday, the following statement sent:

In an attempt to push for a false tale, FOX 45 has used numbers that do not accurately reflect the amount of people employed by the Moore-Miller administration. The Department of Budget and Management provided Rebecca Pryor Information that the number she presented was wrong and she failed to include this information in her reports, even said she “had no time” to look through the information provided, a resignation to the viewers of their “news station.”

The previous administration monitored a period in the history of the state where vacancies reached extraordinary heights and services failed to meet the needs of the voters they represent. Governor Moore believes that the good government serves the people effectively and thoroughly, which is why he has made it his mission to hire more teachers, police officers and public employees.

Governor Moore has proposed $ 2 billion in cuts throughout the state government, as previously reported by FOX 45 and targeted not included as context in this reporting. The governor has also introduced a government’s modernization effort that saves the state over $ 50 million by cutting wasted spending, a program Fox 45 has failed to send a story on. Governor Moore finds savings, but not at the expense of critical services, including public security, health care and education.

The US Department of Labor publishes a number of data sets on state economies across a number of its programs. Maryland Department of Labor makes information from several of these programs available on its site, so job seekers, researchers and other interested parties do not have to visit several places to understand the current economic landscape of Maryland. Each data set has a different method, including how employment is defined, what information is collected, whether data is adjusted for seasonal employment strends and other key differences.

The previous FOX45 covering points to data from the current Employment Statistics (CES) program at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Although it says the data is “from Marylands Department of Labor”, the data is actually from Federal BLS modeling and available on the Maryland Department of Labor’s website.

Data from the CES program are not suitable for using to understand the hiring of changes within the executive branch for several reasons. These include:

CES stimates are modeled and not based on actual employment counts. Employment estimates for the CES program are based on an investigation of employers, but these investigations do not include the state as an employer, and for the state government, the estimates are modeled on previous employment historical trends.

State employment assessments include employees outside the executive branch, such as the University System of Maryland (USM), the legislature and the judiciary. CES data does not include a collapse of the employer in the state government sector.

BLS models are not a suitable data set to be used instead of information about the Maryland Department of Budget and Management’s website to understand employment within the executive branch.

It is not methodologically healthy to assume that all the new positions were hired for average wages/benefits. In FY23 and FY24, the report notes a total of 1,160 contractual conversions to ordinary pins. The labor costs for these conversions are not net new costs.

The direct cost of benefits is $ 39,536. You cannot include indirect costs because these are already included in the salary. Using Rebecca’s numbers, the cost of additional employees is $ 388,395.112.

Note that the number Rebecca Pryor uses for employee numbers is full -time equivalents (FTEs), not individuals.

Before the Moore administration, many critical positions were left unfilled. When Governor Moore took office, there were almost 6,100 vacancies in the executive branch. The agencies where a special effort was made to fill vacancies were these agencies and attitudes that were critical of public health and security.