State Auditor Dave Boliek compared the economic cost of the state’s inefficient DMV to the damage brought by Hurricane Helene, and called for a similarly extensive response on Monday, August 4, 2025. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
The State Employees Association of North Carolina has a simple explanation for the raft of vacant positions in state government: poor pay.
A dashboard released by SEANC on Wednesday compiles findings from State Auditor Dave Boliek’s January report on long-term vacancies in state government, arguing that the auditor’s inquiry vindicates their assertion that inadequate salaries are the primary reason many of North Carolina’s government positions go unfilled.
“State Auditor Dave Boliek’s report shows what we have long argued: North Carolina’s vacancy problem is a pay problem,” said SEANC Executive Director Ardis Watkins. “The auditor himself recommends that the state bring salaries in line with neighboring states and appropriate additional funds where vacancy rates are high.”
As of last August, 8,845 positions had been vacant for more than six months, representing about 11% of the state workforce, according to the dashboard and Boliek’s report. More than a third of those long-term vacancies were attributed to low compensation, the number one cause identified in the auditor’s report.
The dashboard was released just after Republican lawmakers announced a budget framework that will include an average 3% pay raise for state government employees, with higher increases in some of the areas Boliek identified as especially underpaid.
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The vacancies, SEANC argues, are not necessarily a chronic issue. According to the dashboard, roughly 3,000 positions are legally blocked from being filled because the state has been operating without an enacted budget. And in the eight weeks following the passage of the DAVE Act authorizing the auditor to probe government efficiency, 1,181 vacant positions were filled.
“The question now is whether the General Assembly will act on what the data shows,” Watkins said.
Boliek’s office did not respond to a request for comment. But while the auditor recommended increasing pay for some state employees — such as correctional officers and registered nurses — he also encouraged the General Assembly to consider eliminating at least a chunk of the longstanding vacancies.
“Long-term vacancies muddy the waters of government expenditures. In some agencies, you have tax dollars meant to go to a person serving a valuable state need, but instead that spot sits empty for years and the money goes elsewhere,” he said in a press release accompanying the report. “[The report] includes several different options to improve government efficiency, from cuts to job vacancies, to increases in areas where additional resources may be necessary.”
According to the SEANC dashboard and the auditor’s report, more than $1.04 billion in lapsed salary has been generated by those 8,845 vacancies. Lapsed salaries would represent more than 16% of the state payroll budget or around $482 million if the vacancy positions remained unfilled for a year.
Much of that money, funded through state appropriations and receipts, is available for use by the departments while the positions remain unfilled — going instead to things like overtime, temporary workers, and other operational costs.
State Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), pictured speaking to the media on May 6, 2026, said questions about eliminating vacant positions will be resolved in the subcommittees. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch (D-Wake) told the press Wednesday that eliminating lapsed salaries would have serious consequences for state government programs. She said her caucus has concerns that Republican leaders plan to cover the cost of the pay raises by cutting vacant positions as outlined in the auditor’s report.
“What they aren’t telling you is, are they doing that by removing lapsed salaries, which a lot of our departments actually rely on in order to just do their programmatic work?” Batch asked. “Are they going to do it by cutting a whole bunch of positions and using the auditor’s report to say that you don’t actually need human capital to run this government and somehow, AI is going to do it for us?”
However, House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) told reporters Wednesday that this week’s budget agreement slowing down the state’s planned tax cut timeline has lessened the need to eliminate vacant government positions in the final bill.
“The need isn’t as great to go in and look at all of those vacant positions. That doesn’t mean some of those won’t wind up being in there,” Hall said. “I think Dave Boliek’s done a good job as state auditor at getting us a bunch of information, new data that’s out there — so areas across state government where we can improve efficiency, you may see some cuts there.”
Asked about potential cuts to vacant positions Wednesday, state Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) declined to offer specifics, telling members of the media, “We’re going to let the subcommittees go through the process.”
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