bella@sfreporter.com
Santa Fe city employees will soon see extra cash coming their way, following the City Council’s unanimous approval Wednesday evening of “hiring and retention incentives”—part of an effort to remedy an alarmingly high vacancy rate that’s only marginally improved in recent months.
The city has 320 empty positions, which points up a 27% vacancy rate, according to Mayor Alan Webber’s spokesman, Dave Herndon. That’s only slightly down from early October, when there were 348 vacant positions.
A breakdown of the vacancy rate by department wasn’t readily available, but the city jobs portal shows listings for street maintenance, parks operations, accounting and police, among many others.
Funding for $2.4 million worth of retention incentives comes from a tax dispute settlement between the city—one of several municipalities around New Mexico—and the state Taxation and Revenue Department. Excluding temporary employees and elected officials, about 1,200 city workers will receive two payments totaling $2,000. The first round will go out this month and the second next summer.
Additionally, gross receipts tax revenue, which surpassed original estimates, is covering $1,000 bonuses for new hires.
“We’re dealing with a fundamentally different labor market than, I think, any of us has ever seen, both with poaching of talent across the board and the scarcity of job applicants for public and private sector job opportunities,” Webber said at Wednesday’s meeting.
Businesses have struggled this year to staff up, with some raising wages to attract and keep workers.
The city of Santa Fe has followed suit.
Councilors voted in October to bump the minimum wage for city employees to $15 an hour, which affected 217 employees who were earning below that. (The local minimum wage for non-city workers is $12.32.)
The effects of the city’s understaffing are wide-reaching.
In a September letter to city officials, construction industry representatives—including from the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association and the Santa Fe Association of Realtors—alleged a backlog of permit applications, plan reviews and inspections, stemming in part from over a dozen vacant positions in the Land Use Department.
Conversations the letter’s authors had with city staff and the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees “confirm that the inability to recruit and retain qualified front line staff is a crippling factor for city operations across many departments.”
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the City Council approved funding for a handful of existing, unfunded positions, including in the Finance, Public Works and Economic Development departments.
Councilors also voted to create and fund a new Inspection of Public Records Act manager.
There’s been an increase in records requests over the past year, according to a city memo, causing longer response times and risks of “making mistakes with confidential records and/or completeness of responses” and “successful litigation against the city.”
The city Human Resources Department is hosting a job fair on Saturday where staff will be available to help potential employees complete applications, provide career counseling and conduct on-the-spot interviews.
CITY JOB FAIR: 9:00 am to 2:00 pm Saturday, Dec. 11. Genoveva Chavez Community Center, 3221 Rodeo Road.
