Workers paid by other agencies help Taft

COLUMBUS - While telling state departments to hold the line on hiring more workers, Gov. Bob Taft has an advantage those agencies lack. The cost of almost one-fifth of his employees doesn't show up on the governor's office payroll.

Instead, the salaries of 12 of his 63 staff members are paid by other departments under Taft's control. The $628,000 they are paid represents about 16 percent of the $3.9 million payroll of the governor's office.

Taft is following a practice employed by at least three former governors by using what have been called "hidden" or "phantom" employees, The Columbus Dispatch reported yesterday.

Taft has warned state agencies that they face tight budgets averaging 1 percent growth or less during the next two years in anticipation of a cooling down of the state and national economies. He ordered department heads to cut their budgets for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, by 2 percent to 4 percent.

Brian Hicks, Taft's chief of staff, said the administration is not trying to hide employees or skirt the budget process. Hicks said it is logical for people who work on special projects for the governor, such as development and education, to be in his office, even when they are paid by other agencies.

"We have been very careful and judicious in hiring these employees. We have not tried to hide or conceal anything. It's all public record," Hicks said.

No other agency in state government routinely has employees on other payrolls, except on a limited basis for special projects, the newspaper said.

Taft's proposed office budget for the next two fiscal years reflects increases of 1 percent in the first year and 3 percent in the second, for a total of $11 million. That does not include employees on other payrolls.