Sacramento HR warns proposed cuts would reduce diversity-and-equity staffing as council urges retention

Shelley Banks Robinson, the City of Sacramento human resources director, told the City Council on April 1 that most HR functions are mandated by law but that two programs—Organizational Development and the Office of Diversity and Equity—are not legally required and are targeted in the proposed budget reductions.

Robinson said HR is staffed with roughly 80 full-time employees and that the department’s general fund budget is about $5,600,000. “Most of our work in HR … is mandated by law. The only areas of HR that are not mandated are Organizational Development and the Office of Diversity and Equity which is where unfortunately you will see the proposed cuts for HR,” she said.

Why it matters: The Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) and related staff oversee the city’s racial and gender equity action work and support efforts to integrate equity into hiring, contracting and policy. Council members said cutting those positions would undercut work the council adopted and is beginning to operationalize.

Robinson reviewed HR divisions including benefits, labor relations, equal employment opportunity, ADA and leave administration, risk management and workers’ compensation. She said benefits manages multiple retirement plans—citing the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the Sacramento City Employees Retirement System (SCERS) and other plans—and that the number of retirees receiving city health benefits now exceeds the number of active employees.

Robinson said the risk management division has an operating budget of about $68,000,000 and administers liability and workers’ compensation programs, including oversight of third‑party claim administrators and settlement conferences. She described the city’s self‑administered workers’ compensation program as more cost‑effective than outsourcing and said the environmental health and safety unit supported COVID response and ongoing regulatory compliance.

Several council members spoke in support of retaining ODE positions. One council member said the “racial equity staff is of utmost importance” and urged that the two positions under consideration not be cut, saying the city is beginning to operationalize an equity resolution adopted in December and needs staff capacity to implement 14 recommended outcomes and department equity teams. The speaker identified the work as a multi‑year priority for the council.

Robinson said HR proposed eliminating two of three support positions in the director’s office and using technology and redistributed duties to compensate. She emphasized the department’s operational volume, including processing roughly 600 recruitments and 35,000 applications annually and managing about 10,000 personnel action requests.

The presentation was informational and council did not take formal action during the session. Council members said they expect the city manager’s proposed budget will return for deliberation and that trade-offs will be part of the budget process.