Earlier this year, Gov. Chris Sununu sent a message to state agencies: Decrease your budgets by about 4%. In budget hearings, department heads complied, hitting that mark on their funding proposals, but they're sending a message back: We don’t have enough workers.

Bill Cass, commissioner of the state’s Department of Transportation, said his agency is running on a high vacancy rate. With fewer workers and increased use of state roads, he said, the DOT has to “do more with less.” The vacancy rate surpassed 20% in 2023 and continues to climb.

“We are getting done what we have to do, but maybe not getting done all that we should be doing,” Cass said during budget hearings.

To meet the governor’s target, the DOT proposed shuffling around some positions, reducing budgeted overtime and cutting $1.7 million in aid to public transit for each year. Cass warned the budget cuts could negatively impact service and operations, and they could result in higher costs down the line if his department has to defer maintenance projects.

The DOT is hardly the only agency affected – leaders of other large government divisions, like the Department of Safety and Department of Corrections, also underscored workforce worries.

The Department of Corrections had 241 vacant positions as of Nov. 1, which is roughly 25% of the 979 it’s allowed. Only one of those vacant positions will be unfunded.

Though Sununu urged state agencies to scrap some vacant positions, Corrections Commissioner Helen Hanks said she’s reluctant to do so.

“To ensure the morale of our staff, we really do not want to unfund vacant positions,” Hanks said. “We want to continue to recruit.”

Having unfilled roles included in the budget provides the department with leeway to pay overtime, said Lisa Stone, the department’s director of administration. The Legislature typically approves some funding to get transferred from vacant positions toward overtime pay. That amount for the Department of Corrections alone is projected to surpass $26 million for 2025; future amounts will be up to the Legislature.

New Hampshire’s staffing shortages aren’t isolated to the state – they’re symptoms of a nationwide shift. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 7% decline in correctional officers and jailers over the next 10 years. 

The state currently holds just under 2,000 people in prison and more than 4,000 are involved in the parole system, Hanks said. While New Hampshire’s prison population has declined in recent years, its parole system is positioned to grow as the state continues to move toward specialty courts like drug courts, mental health courts and, most recently, veterans courts. These types of courts allow for sentencing that prioritizes treatment and parole rather than incarceration, which Hanks said helps keep people from having repeated run-ins with the law. As these services continue to grow, however, Hanks said the state will be stretched thin to support the parole system.

Hanks also said her department faces challenges with aging infrastructure at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men. Renovations have been delayed for years, and the state is finally biting the bullet to build a new one – with a $600 million price tag.

None of the numbers put forth by the state agencies are final, however – they’re just the beginning of a long process. Now that all the departments have finished presenting their funding requests to the governor and other state leadership, totaling $16.9 billion, Gov.-elect Kelly Ayotte has until February to unveil her version of the budget to the legislature.

Charlotte Matherly is the State House reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America.