In a March legislative hearing, the Dunleavy administration reported that 14 of 26 processing jobs in the “member benefits” office of the Division of Retirement and Benefits were vacant.

This was the highest vacancy rate in the division, which has a total of 129 positions.

On April 1, the state said there was a delay of 3.5 months in processing retirement applications.

On Tuesday, Department of Administration Commissioner Paula Vrana said the delay in processing has been cut to 8-10 weeks.

After publication of my blog post on this topic, a skeptical legislator contacted me to ask about reports that the 8-10 calculation only includes applications that have been officially entered into the system. I asked Vrana to clarify if the backlog excludes applications that have been sent to the state and have yet to be recorded.

At the March hearing, which didn’t get the attention it should have, Sen. Loki Tobin called attention to the empty positions in the member benefits office and asked what the state was doing about it, mentioning that legislators had been hearing from new retirees about long delays in getting benefits.

Sen. Jesse Kiehl said he was worried about how long the delays in processing pension applications would get in the peak months of May through July with 14 of 26 processing jobs unfilled.

“Yes, it is extremely difficult with nearly 42 percent, 40 percent of employees missing in their seats. It does create an overload in many other areas for the existing employees,” said Ajay Desai, director of retirement and benefits.

He said it is an “all hands on deck” situation and the office asks the other sections in the division to help out, especially in May, June, July and part of August, which is a big season for retirement applications. He said senior managers work to process applications.

“It is extremely difficult,” he repeated.

The usual processing time used to be four to five weeks to calculate final retirement benefits. In March, it was taking 12 to 14 weeks for the most complicated applications.

Desai said retirees understand the situation with the state and have been patient. He said by the end of the year, he hopes the processing time will again be four to six weeks with a new computer system.

In 2017, the division had 119 positions. He said the division was understaffed and needed more positions, which were approved. With the new system, he said, the goal is to keep the division at the current staffing level for years to come. And fill the vacant jobs.

Tobin said it was good to hear that things will be better in a year, but she said that many teachers would be retiring this year, in part because of what is happening in state government, and that waiting 14 weeks for action on getting pension payments was not acceptable.

She called for adding temporary positions or asking for more money in the budget to improve service.

Desai didn’t respond directly to those comments.

He said that “due to the vacancy rate and the manual processes still in place today,” there were long delays. The state was offering incentives and bonuses to try to fill positions and keep employees, he said.

The state said April 1 it might lower the minimum qualifications for technicians and seek applicants from Outside, as there were very few qualified applicants.

I have asked and have yet to see any detailed report from the state on what the Dunleavy administration is doing to get vacant jobs filled throughout state government and improve public services.

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