Service disruptions have already begun from high vacancy rates across a range of city offices, affecting everything from public safety to financial services.
document is a compilation of summary reports from each city department and division. ItAcross dozens of the summaries, core themes emerged: Keeping staff and filling vacancies is increasingly difficult,along with old and failing vehicles, equipment and software,“We know we have some big challenges in front of us when it comes to staffing up, getting our finances in order, and delivering better government to the people of Anchorage.
As of early July, the police department had 85 vacancies, including about 50 unfilled sworn officer positions out of the 415 budgeted, Falsey said. Likewise, several department heads noted that bottlenecks and low capacity across departments and agencies were costing the city time and money. Numerous leadership positions across the city have remained unfilled for several months to a year or more. At least seven agencies lacked a permanent director at the time of the report.
There are a total of about 2,800 budgeted staff positions at the municipality, including seasonal and part-time roles, according to Falsey, who estimates there are “hundreds” of vacancies. He is working with department heads and human resources to determine precise vacancy rates. The auditing process for 2023 is just now beginning, about three and a half months after it would usually begin, he said.Several departments outlined growing problems caused by delayed or deferred capital investments in buildings, vehicles, and technology. One driver of that trend is inflation: municipal budgets have not kept up with rising costs, particularly as they’ve shot up in the last several years.
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