Morano challenges DCAS on 85% retention and 3.8% vacancy rates

Thank you, Chair.

Again, I'm still not used to a chair not going on for 45 minutes before giving other members a chance to ask a question.

It's a tribute to your respect for your colleagues that you make an effort to include us.

Thank you all for your testimony.

Deputy Commissioner Porter, I was struck by something in your testimony.

You point to an 85% employee retention rate and a vacancy rate of just 3.8%.

And you describe these as reassuring signs.

But the committee's report says more than 32,000 city employees left municipal service in fiscal year 2025 with resignations significantly outpacing retirement.

So here's my question.

Is an 85% retention rate something we should be celebrating, or does it mean we're losing roughly one out of every seven employees in a given year?

And when you cite that 3.8% vacancy rate, does that figure account for positions that it

agencies have eliminated, frozen, or simply decided not to fill.

Because you can make a vacancy rate look pretty good if you eliminate enough vacancies.

That doesn't necessarily mean you've got enough people to do the work.

To your first question, 85%, I don't know that we need to celebrate it, but I think that it is a good step in the right direction, and it is an indicator that city employees

are remaining in their jobs comparable to other large municipalities and even the federal government.

So I just, you know, we wanted to highlight it as a comparison.

Of course, there's always more work to do.

And, you know, just based on some of the programs and projects that have been recently

implemented and initiated, I think that is a good example of the city's commitment to ensure that we are retaining and attracting top talent and putting New York City in a position to be an employer of choice.

As it relates to the vacancy rate, we use the data that was available to us.

The idea of the state of affairs, if a position was eliminated or repurposed, that's not something that I'm able to speak to.

But once again, it does appear to be a good, you know, an advancement from the heights of.

the vacancy crisis in 2021.

And, you know, as we discussed the last time that we were here, it is also something that the city is committed to do, like figure out ways to attract top talent and to shorten the timeline,

you know, to get butts in the seat, to ensure that city agencies have the support that they need to, you know, provide service to New Yorkers.