St. Paul committee reviews draft ordinance to require quarterly vacancy and public-safety overtime reports

The St. Paul City Council Budget & Finance Committee on May 20 discussed a draft administrative ordinance that would add a new chapter to the city’s administrative code requiring quarterly vacancy reports and quarterly public-safety overtime reports, with implementation proposed to begin Jan. 1, 2026. Chair Yang opened the item and said, “I want to be really clear that today's presentation and discussion does, does not include a final ordinance language ... we will not be voting on it today.”

The draft presented by Jay Wilms, Chief Budget Officer, would add a new Chapter 15 to the administrative code and require the Department of Human Resources to produce a quarterly vacancy report covering full‑time, budgeted, nonappointed and non‑temporary roles; it would also require the police and fire/public‑safety departments to submit a quarterly overtime report covering average overtime by role, percentage of shifts filled by overtime, cost trends and budget comparisons. “At a high level, what this does is requires reporting by amending the administrative code by adding a new chapter 15,” Wilms said.

Why it matters: Council members said regularized reporting is intended to give the council better, timely information for budget decisions and to reduce the need for ad hoc requests. Several members urged that, even while the ordinance is drafted and reviewed by the city attorney, staff should request current data now because the council is already facing an unresolved police overtime contingency of about $700,000.

What the draft requires and how it would work - Implementation: Wilms said the ordinance’s implementation timeline would run through the remainder of 2025 with reports starting on 01/01/2026. The human-resources vacancy report would focus on full‑time FTEs that are budgeted and not appointed, temporary or seasonal. The public‑safety overtime report would be prepared by the police and fire departments and include average overtime by role, percentage of shifts filled by overtime, explanations for notable increases or decreases and budget-to-actual comparisons. - Publication and recipients: Each report would be submitted to the mayor and the council and posted publicly, according to the draft language the committee reviewed.

Council concerns and requested changes - Office of Financial Services (OFS): Multiple council members said OFS should be named explicitly in the ordinance draft as a partner or co-owner of the reports because OFS is the city’s fiscal clearinghouse. Wilms agreed that OFS “probably should also be included in the language.” - Capturing overtime paid from vacant FTEs: Council Member Joseph and others asked that the reports capture situations in which budgeted sworn positions were not filled and that the associated salary budget has been used to pay overtime; Joseph said that practice has represented “several million dollars” in prior budgeting cycles and suggested the dataset should show mismatches between authorized FTEs and overtime spending. - Activity coding / purpose of overtime: Council Member Johnson and others asked the overtime report to break out the purpose of overtime (for example, emergency response, special events, contractual obligations) rather than reporting only totals. Wilms noted the draft lists “total payroll costs related to overtime and any associated premium pay” but acknowledged the draft currently lacks activity coding and that premium‑pay categories (court appearances, callbacks) may be the closest equivalent in existing codes. - Newly created positions and revenue offsets: The council asked the vacancy report to indicate whether vacancies are newly created positions (added in the prior 12 months) and whether overtime was offset by external revenue (for example, events paid by third parties), so the council can better assess net fiscal impact. - Immediate data request / contingency: Several members urged making a formal written request now for existing reports from police, fire and HR. Council Member Johnson emphasized the urgency, saying the lack of scheduling and response from the Saint Paul Police Department has been “unacceptable,” and noting the $700,000 contingency in the police budget that the council would like addressed before the next budget cycle.

Legal and procedural questions Wilms reviewed the legal basis cited in the draft ordinance, pointing to charter provisions summarized in the draft’s whereas clauses and noting that certain administrative actions must be enacted by ordinance and codified in the administrative code. On the question of ordinance versus resolution, Wilms said an ordinance “is in many ways more permanent. It’s publicly accessible. It becomes part of our code … and routinizes the process” in a way a resolution would not. He also cautioned that the draft is pending the city attorney’s formal review.

Implementation and limits Committee members asked who would prepare the reports and whether implementing the ordinance would impose additional staffing or budget obligations. Wilms said the draft assigns primary responsibility for the vacancy report to Human Resources (listed in the draft as the department that would own the report) and expects collaboration with OFS; police and fire would own the overtime report. He and council members acknowledged that administration would need to fill in operational details (workflows, data systems and staff assignments) and that codified expectations will still rely on relationship management and administrative capacity to produce usable reports.

Next steps No ordinance was introduced or voted on at the meeting. The committee directed staff to continue drafting with department feedback and city‑attorney review; council members asked that OFS be added to the draft and requested a formal, written ask to receive current police overtime and contingency information this year. Council leadership said the legislative‑drafting process with the city attorney’s office is underway and committee members encouraged using that process so a final draft can be ready in time to inform this year’s budget discussions.

Ending The meeting closed with the committee chair thanking staff and members for the discussion and noting further work remains before any ordinance would be introduced.