ALEXANDRIA, Va.–The NCUA board has voted in favor of reallocating portions of its budget, including redeploying funds after coming in under budget on employee pay and benefits.
The board voted to take the $2.4-million within its operating budget that will not be spent this year and to put $1.2 million toward the capital project for several projects, while also agreeing to delay two projects until the future, which will allow it to redeploy $1.5 million.
Overall, NCUA said it is projecting it will come in $4.2 million under budget on employee pay and benefits in 2019.
The board also voted in favor of changing the name of its Office of Public and Congressional Affairs (PACA) as the Office of External Affairs and Communications, and to authorize four new staff positions for the office. NCUA CFO Rendell Jones said the changes reflect new demands on the office.
Jones told the board NCUA estimates it will return to its full staffing levels by year-end.
Four Areas
Specifically, Jones told the board the plan is to use the $2.4 million in four key areas:
- Employee relocations. Relocations have increased in quantity and cost, particularly in 2019, much of which is due to NCUA’s 2018 reorganization, Jones said. NCUA has budgeted an additional $1.6 million for relocations in 2019.
- Legal services for outside counsel.
- Additional funds for NCUA’s Asset Management and Assistance Center (AMAC) in Austin, Texas, including $90,000 to operate the AMAC servicing system in 2019 until a replacement system is brought online (the system manages consumer accounts at failed CUs), plus $40,000 for additional support in the Austin office building.
- Miscellaneous contract training support.
Jones said the remaining $1.2 million in funds will also be transferred into various “high priority” capital projects that overall will require $2.7 million in 2019. According to Jones, $1.5 million will be reprioritized in the capital budget to cover the remaining amount, which is represented by:
- CU Online update for collecting 5300 data ($1.3 million)
- Systems update for system tracking FOM data ($1 million)
- MERIT (Modern Examination and Risk Identification Tool) ($410,000 this year for development and rollout next year). MERIT is the systems that will replace NCUA's AIRES.
- $900,000 to come from deferring two projects: $645,000 for an update to the agency’s Learning Management System (LMS), which tracks employee training and development; and the remaining funds represented by delaying an update to NCUA’s financial management system, which is currently provided by another agency.
Other Budget Adjustments
Jones said that within the Share Insurance Fund Administrative Budget, his office is estimating an additional $162,000 is required for employee pay and benefits costs for the remainder of 2019. He added that spending on program support contracts for the NCUA Guaranteed Notes program is projected to be lower than the 2019 board-approved budget levels.
“With board approval, these funds can be repurposed for the employee pay and benefits requirement,” said Jones.
The board agreed, with Chairman Rodney Hood and Board Members J. Mark McWatters and Todd Harper all voting in favor.
“What is under consideration today allows NCUA to make technology investments…that will help both credit unions and the NCUA examiner workforce operate more efficiently,” said Hood.