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City administrator lists staffing requests for 2026; recommends prioritizing and deferring some changes until compensation study
Summary
City Administrator Wilson presented department staffing requests for 2026, including reclassifications, hour increases for part-time roles, and several new positions. Wilson recommended limited immediate reclassifications and deferring broader pay adjustments until a compensation study is completed.
City Administrator Wilson told the Inver Grove Heights City Council that staffing requests submitted by department heads will be a major discretionary element of the 2026 draft budget and that the 6.7% levy figure presented earlier does not include new or adjusted staffing requests.
Wilson said staffing requests fall into three categories: reclassifications (changing job titles and pay grades to reflect evolving duties), increases in hours for part-time roles, and entirely new positions. He said reclassification requests were submitted by police, fire, inspections and engineering departments and that reclassifications are generally less costly than hiring new staff but cautioned that many pay-focused reclassification requests should be deferred until the results of a citywide classification and compensation study are available.
Requests described to council: Wilson listed specific items submitted by departments (not presented here in rank order): - Reclassification requests from police, fire, inspections and engineering (estimated modest cost per reclassification). - Increased hours for two part-time positions: an accounts-receivable accounting technician (asked to move from 20 to 30 hours per week) and a parks-and-rec communications specialist (requested move from 24 hours to full time). - New-position requests: a seasonal 0.6 FTE parks maintenance role (spring'fall), an additional full-time communications staff member, an assistant city administrator or an additional HR full-time equivalent, a fleet and equipment manager (management-level), an assistant planner in community development, and equipment/fleet replacements funded from the golf-course capital fund.
Wilson said the council previously authorized three full-time firefighters in 2025 (budgeted for six months in 2025) and that the city must budget the full-year costs for those hires in 2026. He reiterated that a newly forming firefighters' union for deputy and assistant chief positions will require separate bargaining and that police units remain unsettled for contracts expiring at year-end; staff used settled nonpolice contracts to inform assumptions for unsettled contracts.
Funding and next steps: Wilson said he will prioritize staffing requests and return recommendations to the council; he emphasized that not all requested positions will be included in the levy. He noted one proposed school-resource-officer addition for District 199 that staff propose to fund from opioid-settlement funds so it would not affect the levy.
Ending: Wilson asked for council guidance on prioritization and said staff will provide a recommended list and any budget adjustments for the council's September preliminary-levy discussion.
