Pay and benefit costs coming in slightly under projection is the reason for one-third of a $5.1 million operating budget surplus expected by year-end at the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the agency’s chief financial officer said in Thursday’s open agency board meeting.
The CFO also recommended that a total of $737,000 be reprogrammed to fund four new cybersecurity support positions and two positions to assist with the NCUA’s field-of-membership and charter-expansion efforts. The agency said the reprogrammed funds will also support reasonable accommodations for employees and expenses associated with the background and security investigation for new hires.
The four new cybersecurity support positions are in the agency’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO); the two other positions are in the Consumer Access Division in the Office of Credit Union Resources and Expansion (CURE).
The NCUA operating budget for 2023 was set at $371.3 million. Actual spending is expected to come in $5.1 million under that figure, with about one-third, or $1.6 million, attributable to slightly lower-than-projected pay and benefits costs for 2023, the agency said. It said the remaining two-thirds, or about $3.5 million, is in non-payroll categories.