ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Citing the perilous economic climate and theneed for greater scrutiny of credit unions, the NCUA said today itis likely to ask for $182.9 million for the next budget, a $24.3million increase over this year's level.

The additional funds, which would be paid for by a 10% increasein the fees that federal credit unions pay the agency, would beused to hire additional personnel, centralize the charteringprocess and place federal unions on a 12-month examinationschedule.

The agency hopes to hire 100 additional examiners, five problemcase officers, five risk management officers and additional supportstaff.

NCUA Executive Director Leonard Skiles said the additionalpersonnel are needed because the agency needs provide closeroversight. He noted, for example, that CAMEL ratings have a“shorter shelf life” when conditions change quickly.

He also noted that because of regulatory changes and mergerswhich have created larger credit unions, the average amount of timeexaminers spend on each examination will increase from 88 hours to94 hours next year.

Skiles presented the budget proposal at the agency's annualpublic hearing. The public can submit comments through Nov. 7 andthe NCUA board is scheduled to discuss and vote on its budgetrequest at its Nov. 21 meeting. The request then goes to the Officeof Management and Budget which must submit a proposed budget toCongress in February. The budget figures are for the fiscal yearthat begins Oct. 1, 2009.