NCSSMA Posts Minutes

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has posted the minutes of its annual meeting from May 1 to May 4, 2007. Here are two excerpts from a meeting on May 3, 2007 between the NCSSMA Board and Mary Glenn Croft, Social Security's Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Operations, and Roger McDonnell, head of the Office of Public Services and Operations Support in the office of Social Security's Deputy Commissioner for Operations:

Mary said there’s no good or easy answer for staffing. Even for FY08, Congress may stipulate that specific workloads be processed with any extra money we receive and the money may not go to address staffing shortages. Jim Burkert [a member of the NCSSMA board] asked why field component staff is dropping faster than any other component. He further stated that Part D hires are no longer helping because staffing levels are lower now than they were before we had the Part D workloads. ... Mary stated that there is no master plan to close or consolidate offices. Infrastructure costs (leases and guard service) are extremely high however, and the regions look at leases when they are ready to expire to determine whether it makes good sense to close or consolidate the office.

Note that Social Security is already expecting earmarks in its 2008 budget requiring that it deal with the hearing backlogs. Note also that Social Security's budget is so tight that the agency is starting to close field offices. Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate will not like to hear about field office closings.