LITTLE ROCK (KFSM) — Nearly 800 fewer positions have been cut from executive -branch state agencies, according to a release from Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s office.
The number positions represents a decline in staff of about the three percent, the release stated.
The salary savings are expected to save the state around $7 million by June 30, the end of Fiscal Year 2016, the release stated.
Hutchinson said in the release, “We are working hard to find efficiencies and to make our government more accountable to the taxpayer. So far, we are on the right track. But we are far from done, and I expect our State agencies to continue finding increased efficiencies and lowering the cost of operating State government.”
The release stated that 25, 733 people are currently employed in executive-branch agencies, 795 fewer than were working for them in January 2015.
Executive-branch agencies are those agencies, boards and commissions under the direct oversight of Governor Hutchinson, according to the release. The decline in total employment is largely the result of attrition and the governor’s statewide job-freeze, as well as an increased focus on efficiency in State operations.
