7 new positions approved for NCUA after budget review
(Sept. 24, 2021) In other action Thursday, the NCUA Board:
- Approved “midsession budget review” action that will use a $15 million 2021 budget surplus (realized through savings on curtailed travel during the coronavirus pandemic) to add seven new positions to the agency’s employment roster, among other things. Those positions will be added to the agency’s cybersecurity program (three new positions), the NCUA Board secretary (one position), and the agency’s office of ethics counsel (three positions), taking up $11 million of the surplus. The balance will be “reprogrammed,” with $2.4 million going to address cybersecurity support, employee relocations, and “human capital analytical support” (for analysis of compensation plans and diversity/equity/ inclusion programs and practices), and approximately $1.6 million to cover employee leave payouts.
- Considered a staff projection that, by year’s end, a “residual budget balance” (or surplus) of about $24.6 million will be left, which the agency said “can be used to offset future budget needs by the agency.”
- Heard a quarterly report on the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), which noted an equity ratio for the fund, as of June 30, at 1.23% — three basis points above the minimum allowed by law before a “restoration plan” (including assessment of a premium) can be established by the board, but well below the fund’s current “normal operating level” (NOL) of 1.38%. Along those lines, Board Member Hood said he wants the board to consider resetting the NOL to 1.3% at either the October or November board meetings (staff project the equity ratio to rise to 1.28% at the end of December 2021).
Regarding the budget review, NASCUS’ Lucy Ito urged NCUA to apply any surplus in 2021 to offset the overhead transfer rate (OTR) for 2022. “Additionally, surplus in the share insurance fund’s admin budget, which largely represents savings in state examiner training, should either be reserved for future training needs or also used to offset the OTR even more,” Ito said.
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