It takes a lot of workers to pave Oakland’s roads, respond to fires, staff the libraries, among many other critical tasks, and the city has set aside money to pay people to do those jobs, but hundreds of city staff positions are unfilled, and city leaders aren’t on the same page about why.
Oakland is budgeted for 4,264 full-time positions, but the city has only filled 3,255 of those jobs, according to a new report. That’s roughly 1,000 jobs with no one on staff to get the work done.
Due to the city’s financial crunch, a couple of these 1,000 positions have been frozen, while others are encumbered, meaning they’re tied to funding for overtime and temporary staffing. But Oakland is authorized to fill 839 of those unfilled jobs…