Officials clarify attrition rate and collective bargaining funding amid committee budget review

During the work session on supplemental budget items, committee members asked for clarity about the state’s attrition rate and where funding for collective bargaining originates.

Elaine Clark, commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said the standard attrition rate had been 1.6% during the Mills administration and that a higher rate had been proposed and adjusted by the legislature. “The attrition rate increased… it was submitted as 5 percent in all the budgets and it was modified by the legislature,” Clark said, and added that the legislature ultimately set a 6% rate for budget calculations.

Clark cautioned against conflating the attrition calculation with the salary‑plan balance used for collective bargaining. She said there is “no pot of $56,000,000 that's available” as some testifiers suggested; instead she described a salary‑plan carryover of about $103,000,000 that had been authorized by the legislature and which now requires legislative reauthorization to expend in collective bargaining.

“The salary plan money comes from a totally different source… personal services at the end of the fiscal year that are unexpended,” Clark said, explaining that leftover personal‑services funds roll into the salary plan and are used for collective bargaining as authorized by the legislature. Clark said four of five unions have settled under the plan and that negotiations with MSEA remain ongoing.

Members asked for a brief written explanation, and Clark offered a white paper and the handout she provided to the committee to clarify how attrition and the salary plan interact. The committee did not vote on related items during the session and asked staff to incorporate clearer language in the report‑back.