ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The NCUA Board this morning approved an $11.5 million increase in next year’s budget, most of it, $6.1 million, to pay for the new contract for the examiners’ union, even though the contract freezes union pay for next year.
At a 5.1% increase from this year’s budget, the increase is less than half the 13% and 12% increases of the past two years, but means that NCUA has increased its spending by $56 million—32% over just the past three years.
Still, because of continued growth among credit unions-especially large credit unions which pay the brunt of the operating expenses used to finance the budget—the operating fee rate for federally chartered credit unions will decrease just less than 1% next year.
Most of that increase has gone to support new examiners and staff to deal with the growing number of troubled credit unions and the corporate credit union resolution. In fact, next year’s budget includes funding for an additional 33 personnel, most of them examiners, at a cost of $1.6 million.
But the biggest part of next year’s increase is related to the three-year contract NCUA recently signed with the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents about 900 NCUA employees, most of them examiners. While the contract freezes salaries next year—as all federal government employees—it vastly increases benefits paid to union workers. That includes contributions to the NCUA Savings Plan and supplemental premiums for health, dental and vision care.
“The NCUA budget is really an investment credit unions are making to protect the system to keep it safe and sound,” said NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz.
Matz called the budget “efficient and smart.” The budget will still allow us to accomplish our mission,” she added.
Other big expenditures include $2.1 million budgeted to lease 1,500 new laptops for NCUA and state examiners, who are subsidized by NCUA; and an additional $2.6 million in travel expenses for NCUA staff to provide for increased time at credit unions.
