From an FTE point of view, if I continue to squeeze, we currently have funding for about 38 FTEs, although, as I said, I've moved some operations and maintenance funding to FTEs. However, we have about 40 on board right now.
We would move to 79 in the next budget year and thereafter. Assuming the influx of cases eventually plateaus and doesn't keep going up, we envisage starting to gradually lower it by 2027 or 2028 to 78, then to 75. We would basically land on 75. That is the forecast for the FTEs.
In terms of cases, in the initial estimate—we submitted the off-cycle budget assuming we were going to get funding earlier than now—we believed it would take us three to five years to get the case level down to a manageable level that could be processed within our service standards. Due to this delay and the continuing increase in cases, we now have a bigger backlog than we did when we first submitted our budget. It likely could take, I would estimate, four to six years.
I haven't asked for that specific projection. I'll only ask for it once we get the money, hopefully. Then I'll know where we're going.