City human resources and department leaders reviewed staffing requests, vacancy trends and the effects of the recent class‑and‑compensation actions at the July 19 budget work session. HR staff summarized requests submitted in January and explained how departmental conversations and the city manager’s prioritization led to the positions included in the FY26 proposed budget.

Why this matters: Hiring decisions and the number of authorized full‑time equivalents affect service levels, recurring personnel costs and the long‑term structural budget. Departments used the January submission deadline to itemize needs; the council and city manager then prioritized which could be funded in FY26.

HR said departments submitted 122.25 FTE requests at the January deadline. Since then, some requests were withdrawn or moved to mid‑year actions; the city approved a net of 4.5 FTE earlier in FY25 through mid‑year actions. The draft FY26 budget contains 20.5 proposed new FTE and five proposed eliminations for a net gain of 15.5 FTE in the FY26 draft; when combined with the mid‑year net gain already approved this fiscal year, staff calculated a net increase of about 20 total new FTE from the FY25 starting point.

Police leadership requested a larger package: the department requested 51 officers. Finance staff provided a high‑level personnel cost estimate for the 51 positions — about $4.6 million in recurring pay and benefits — and noted that vehicle, equipment and other non‑personnel costs would be additional if the council approved hiring at that scale. Police explained the 51‑officer figure was derived from benchmarks such as calls‑for‑service per officer, the city’s participation in benchmarking groups and command‑level staffing priorities (for example, restoring a downtown unit and upgrading civilian investigative staffing).

Human resources and the city manager described an iterative review process that modifies requests after departmental meetings. Several council members asked for a clearer mapping between the council’s stated priorities and which positions were funded; staff said that connection will be explained when the full budget and priorities are presented at public hearings. HR also described results of the recent classification and compensation work: the city implemented market‑leading pay ranges and a series of adjustments in FY24–FY25, and HR said turnover and vacancy measures have improved since implementation.

Ending: Staff said they will provide council members with additional documentation on vacancies, positions not budgeted for immediate fill, and any expected service impacts from delayed hiring. Council members asked for periodic updates on the police hiring pipeline given conditional offers and backgrounds are processed weekly.