FCC 2019 Budget Request Increases 6 Percent

Federal Communications Commission is handing in a formal budget request of $333,118,000 for FY2019, spending that is offset by regulatory fees it collects. This would be a cut of about 6% from its actual 2018 budget. The commission under Chairman Ajit Pai is keeping staffing levels consistent year over year with a compliment of 1,448 full-time employees. The FCC is requesting about $113 million for spending on spectrum auctions.

According to RadioWorld, the commission sets out four strategic goals in its FY2019 budget request beginning with efforts to encourage the private sector to build out next-generation networks, promote innovation that promotes a competitive marketplace, consumer protection and further reform for modernize FCC processes. It also hopes to clear a backlog of 8,000 pending radio and television applications and implement Blue Alerts as the newest code for the Emergency Alert System.

Meanwhile, InsideRadio reports the budget propose maintaining a full-time payroll at 1,448 employees, with the FCC telling lawmakers that number allows for a “lean, accountable, more efficient” Commission. “With this full-time employee level, the Commission will continue to meet its mission demands in FY 2019,” the request says. The Commission’s payroll is the smallest it’s been in decades after having peaked in the late-1990s with about 2,000 full-timers on the job.

The blueprint says the FCC plans to absorb salary increases of $4.4 million and $1.9 million in overhead cost increases out of its base budget in 2019. It will do that by modernizing more of its information technology systems, including the software used by broadcasters when the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) is activated, such as after a hurricane. The FCC says the new DIRS will feature a “common look and feel” but it will also resolve “numerous issues” related to the current technology that has led to not only higher maintenance costs but also security vulnerabilities.

One place the FCC won’t be able to save money in 2019 is with its office space rental. Its current lease for the Portals building in Southwest Washington expired in Oct. 2017 and the newly-built offices where the FCC is heading aren’t yet ready. So in the meantime the Portals landlord has told the government it may seek a 20% premium over the current rate—or about $9 million per year—on the lease extension.