By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

THE contracts of 484 employees of the cash-strapped government were renewed starting in June last year, according to records obtained by the Variety.
Fifteen were hired as replacements while 14 other individuals were transferred or promoted to other positions in various government agencies and departments.
The contracts of five staffers of the Election Commission were renewed in October last year; and one individual was given another one-year contract with the Civil Service Commission.
Among the eight divisions of the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, the Aging Office and Youth Services have the most renewals at 14 each; administration has four; the Arts Council, three; the Language Commission, four; Historic Preservation, five; Sports and Recreation, four.
The Department of Health has 231 staffers who were renewed, hired as replacements, and transferred/promoted in various sections in the hospital.
Offices under the governor recorded 159 renewals, newly hired, and transferred to different sections.
In the Department of Public Safety’s four divisions, the contracts of 14 staffers were renewed.
At the Department of Public Works, 41 individuals signed new service contracts with the government.
In the Department of Lands and Natural Resources, the contracts of 50 employees were renewed.
In the Department of Labor, nine; the Office of Management and Budget’s special accounts, five; the Department of Finance, eight; and the Department of Commerce, six.
The Department of Corrections recorded 10 transferred employees and one renewal.
At the Attorney General’s Office, 19 were either renewed or hired as replacements; at the Office of the Public Auditor, 15; the lt. governor’s office, 13; and at the federally funded Criminal Justice Planning Agency, 15.
The Joeten-Kiyu Public Library recorded four renewals; the Museum of History and Culture, two; and the public defender’s office, one.
Documents from the Office of Personnel Management stated that “many of the excepted service renewals were accelerated and completed earlier than the normal renewal date in order to comply with the requirements of Public Law 15-24 which reduced the salaries of government employees by 10 percent.”
OPM said because hiring is based upon budgeted positions, “all new hiring has essentially been replacement hiring.”