NCUA last week proposed a major restructuring which would include the closure of one of the agency's six regional offices in suburban Chicago, and relocation of the high-rent West Coast regional office to a less expensive location.
The proposal to close the Lisle, Ill.-based Midwest Region IV office and the office in Concord, Calif., would save an estimated $2.7 million a year if approved, NCUA Executive Director Len Skiles said at the agency's budget briefing.
The agency also proposed a spending plan for next year which would cut the budget by about $800,000-less than 1% of NCUA's $146-million budget-the first budget cut in recent history. The cut would be enabled by a reduction in the agency's workforce through attrition of 25 positions-the second year in a row for a staff cut. That would put NCUA's full-time employees at 971, the lowest in six years, according to Skiles. The spending plan also includes a 4.5% average raise in compensation for all employees.
NCUA's budget is one-third funded by operating fees assessed federally chartered CUs with the remaining two-thirds funded through earnings on the NCUSIF.
The proposed restructuring would reduce senior staff by 17 positions and all employees in the Chicago region would be relocated to other offices. Among the sites being considered for a new Region VI office is Las Vegas, but no decisions have been made yet.
