Politics
Chicago Launches New Dashboard to Track Vacant Positions After Budget Clash
(WTTW News)
Elected officials and Chicagoans concerned about the number of vacant city positions will soon have a new way of keeping track of what jobs are empty with a new database, officials announced Monday.
The new database, which will be updated on the first of every month, launched one week after WTTW News reported that approximately 250 positions charged with implementing a court order that requires the Chicago Police Department to stop routinely violating Black and Latino residents’ constitutional rights are vacant.
“By making this workforce data public, we are holding ourselves accountable and equipping our communities with the tools to demand better from their government,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “This initiative reflects our commitment to a more just, responsive and people-centered city where budget decisions are driven by transparency and the needs of our residents, not bureaucracy.”
Budget Director Annette Guzman told WTTW News the dashboard was designed to answer questions she and her team fielded during the fraught negotiations over the city’s 2025 budget.
“We want to build trust with decision makers and the public,” Guzman said.
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward), the chair of the Budget Committee, told WTTW News the dashboard was a “step in the right direction.”
“It will help ensure we are all working from the same set of facts,” said Ervin, who voted for the mayor’s budget, which narrowly passed.
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) said he was pleased the mayor’s office has begun fulfilling promises made during the budget negotiations to provide alderpeople with more information about the city’s financial condition before officials start crafting annual spending plans.
“It will help us ask more insightful questions and find efficiencies,” Vasquez said. “We always want to see more data.”
The data used to create the database has long been available on the city’s data portal but was inaccessible to most people, Guzman said.
The database will also allow Chicagoans and city officials to see which positions the city is having the most trouble filling, and which city departments are facing chronic shortages or high levels of attrition or turnover, Guzman said.
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s office also maintains several databases that detail staffing in the Chicago Police Department.
There were 71 fewer sworn officers employed by CPD in February than in February 2024, a decrease of 0.6%, and essentially unchanged since Johnson took office in May 2023, according to the database.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
