City Council Updates
Union leaders told the Richmond City Council Tuesday that the city's persistent staffing shortages are the result of a deliberate choice, not a hiring pipeline problem, escalating a public dispute over whether Richmond is using vacant positions as a budget tool at the expense of city services.
The accusation came at a state-mandated annual hearing on city vacancies, where representatives from two unions told council members that the city has the means to hire but has chosen not to, while City Manager Shasa Curl defended the city's pace as a financial necessity driven by rising personnel costs and unresolved labor contracts.
City manager says Richmond may be unable to add staff without retirements
City Manager Shasa Curl told the Richmond City Council on Tuesday that the city can no longer afford to hire new employees unless an existing employee retires first due to increasing workforce costs. “In the absence of retirements, we are at a point where new personnel cannot be added because
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"This is a hiring issue, not a performance issue," said Kevin Tisdale, chapter president of SEIU Local 1021, which represents the city's general employees. The union ended 2025 with a 19 percent vacancy rate, just below the 20 percent threshold that triggers additional state reporting requirements.
Richmond Police Officers Association President Ben Therriault echoed the concern from a public safety angle, telling the council that unfilled officer positions generate budget savings on paper while driving up overtime costs and accelerating turnover.
"The vacancy savings is booked as budget savings, but the cost is paid for in overtime, recruitment, and lost training investment whenever officers leave," Therriault said.
When the city budgets for a position but leaves it unfilled, the unspent salary money becomes vacancy savings, a gap between what the city planned to spend on staff and what it actually spent. Richmond's FY2026-27 budget is balanced in part by assuming a 12 percent vacancy rate, which the city projects will generate roughly $16.4 million in savings.
But several councilmembers questioned whether that assumption is realistic, given that the city ran an 18 percent vacancy rate throughout all of 2025. Vice Mayor Doria Robinson pressed Curl on why the budget assumes 12 percent when the city has consistently operated at a much higher rate. Curl said unresolved labor contract negotiations make a firm number impossible for now, and that the 12 percent figure represents a goal rather than a guarantee.
Councilmember Sue Wilson asked where the unspent salary money goes when positions are budgeted but not filled. Curl acknowledged that in practice, the surplus has flowed to infrastructure projects the council has requested, including park renovations, library improvements, and street projects.
"Some cities decide to have a lower headcount because they want to prioritize the built environment," Curl said.
Curl also told the council that the city is realistically planning to employ around 670 workers, well below the roughly 800 positions it has budgeted for. For context, she noted that Concord, a comparable Bay Area city, employs 439 full-time workers, though unlike Richmond, it does not operate its own fire department.
Last week, Curl warned the council that the city may be unable to add staff without corresponding retirements, citing pension costs and salary obligations that have pushed total personnel spending up more than $54 million since FY2021-22.
Ballot measure would mandate 187 officers, lock half of Richmond’s local revenue for public safety
A Richmond resident has filed a ballot initiative that would require the city to dedicate up to half of its locally generated revenue to public safety and maintain a minimum of 187 sworn police officers, a base that sits 40 officers above where the department stands today. Michael Taylor Caine,
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The police vacancy rate has taken on added significance with a ballot measure now in circulation that would require Richmond to employ a minimum of 187 sworn officers.
The department ended 2025 with 129 filled positions out of 147 authorized, a 17.8 percent vacancy rate. Therriault noted that RPD currently sits at 0.91 officers per 1,000 residents, well below the national benchmark of 1.6, and that a civil grand jury called for a concrete police staffing plan by January 2023 that the city has yet to produce.
Report: Richmond Police staffing levels ‘seriously deficient’ to meet the needs of the public
A report on public safety staffing requested by the Richmond City Council has called the current police staffing levels ‘seriously deficient’ to meet the needs of the public and said officer turnover at the Richmond Police Department was an “unsustainable crisis.” The report by Matrix Consulting Group created a data
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The ballot measure, filed in May by Richmond resident Michael Taylor Caine with RPOA support, would require the city to reach 187 sworn officers beginning in the second fiscal year after voter approval. A 2023 study commissioned by the city, by Matrix Consulting Group, called Richmond's police staffing levels "seriously deficient" and recommended adding 40 officers to reach 185.
Citywide, Richmond carried an average of nearly 144 vacancies throughout 2025, an 18 percent vacancy rate against roughly 800 budgeted positions. The city hired 91 employees and saw 75 separations during the year, for a net gain of 16 filled positions.
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