Allentown committee forwards Bill 57 to full council to reclassify and add city positions

The Intergovernmental Relations and Strategy Committee on Tuesday voted to forward Bill 57 — a 2025 general-fund budget amendment to reclassify, retitle and add positions across multiple departments — to the full Allentown City Council with a favorable recommendation.

The measure, described during the meeting as covering 17 position changes, seeks pay-grade adjustments and retitling in finance and purchasing, reclassification of paralegals in the solicitor’s office, creation of a civilian community-advocate coordinator in the police department, and an upgraded operations supervisor role in public works.

The bill matters because city officials said the changes respond to sustained increases in workload and difficulty retaining staff. “Our p-card invoices increased from 2022 to 2025 by 62%. The volume has increased by 62%,” said Bina Patel, speaking for the finance department. Patel said purchasing, treasury and accounting staff are handling more projects — including ARPA-funded work — and that several positions carry pay grades set 10–17 years ago.

Patel told the committee the finance team processes payroll for more than 1,000 active employees every two weeks and…