The City paid Ernst & Young to find savings. Its new HR chief told the Council she can't find any HR recommendation in place
A plan to centralize hiring in three departments was supposed to start in October; it hasn't, because no one consulted the unions first. The City has made 3,418 hires this year, public safety included.
The City's new Human Resources commissioner, on her 54th day in the job, told the Council's budget committee Monday that she has "not been able to identify evidence of any HR-related recommendations" from Ernst & Young's efficiency review that have been carried out (watch).
Why it matters: the Mayor's 2027 plan counts on savings from that review to help close an $882 million gap. The City has paid the firm about $10 million, as we reported.
What members asked
Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th) said Ernst & Young identified $41.6 million to $52.2 million in possible savings from employee benefit contributions, and that the firm's own update says those savings "have not been advanced." She asked what the department had done. The commissioner said she met with the firm on her first day and is "assessing and reassessing," and noted that benefits are managed by the Finance Department, not HR.
Nugent also asked what came of that first meeting with the consultants (watch), and whether the City has had a hiring freeze over the past year (watch).
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The freeze that wasn't called one
The commissioner said there had been no hiring freeze under her. A department staff member said the budget office froze some positions in 2025 that were neither revenue-generating nor tied to public safety. Asked how many people the City had hired, the department said 3,418, including police and fire. A member asked why the City was filling more than 2,000 non-public-safety jobs during "a budget crunch"; the department said garbage still has to be picked up and services delivered.
The commissioner said she believed last year's reported time-to-hire figure was 92, but that a single number is misleading, because hiring times differ by type of job, such as union positions.
Centralization on hold
Ernst & Young recommended pulling human resources work out of individual departments and into one office, starting with a pilot in three departments in October. The commissioner said that didn't happen: the plan didn't account for the need to bargain with the City's unions first. "There are steps," she said, and the department is reviewing policies and procedures with labor before it moves.
Other questions:
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- Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) asked about confusing job postings and how often the City picks someone who didn't bid on a job, and requested data on retirements and older workers (watch).
- Ald. David Moore (17th) asked how the new commissioner plans to measure and lift morale (watch).
What our records add
When the budget was introduced, the administration said $52.2 million of its 2027 savings came from Ernst & Young's work, as we reported. Members have asked about the review since the first hearing of this cycle, on Oct. 23, and last year's committee held a hearing on the report alone, on Nov. 10, 2025 (meeting notes).
Monday's full notes, including the Department of Administrative Hearings and Procurement, are on our meeting page.