Departmental Highlights

Snapshot: Appropriation & Staffing Changes from 2025 Budget

	2025 Budgeted	2026 Proposed	Net Change	Percent Change	Average Annual Rate of Change (2011-2025)	Inflation-adjusted Rate of Change (2011-2024)
Appropriations	$13,367,100	$12,957,553	-$409,547	-3.1%	9.0%	5.7%
Positions & FTEs	122	119	-3	-2.5%	3.9%	NA

• The net -3 headcount reduction includes a number of reduced, eliminated, and added titles, with a single position each budgeted for the new titles of Director of Policy, Employee Assistance Program Counselor, and Project Coordinator (Excluded). The budget proposal eliminates two positions each from the Recruitment Manager and Onboarding Specialist titles, as well as single-position reductions in multiple other titles, including the elimination of the Clinical Therapist III (Excluded) title from DHR’s budget. 
• Nearly all of DHR’s appropriations remained the same as the previous year or declined, with a $1,704 (2.9%) increase in the Student as Trainees category the only year-over-year increase. 
• The largest single-category decline was a roughly $176,000 (-35.8%) decrease in outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation. 

Historical Context

The Department of Human Resources remained at relatively steady budget and staffing levels from 2011 through 2022, when a Lightfoot-era push to ramp up staffing nearly doubled the department’s budgeted headcount for the 2023 budget. Unlike most of the spikes in departmental budgets beginning with the 2021 budget, DHR was not primarily relying on pandemic relief funds for its increase.

From 2011-2025, departmental appropriations grew at an average rate of 9% per year, or 5.7% adjusted for inflation, largely driven by the 2023 budget increase and smaller increase in 2024. Citywide appropriations over the same period increased at an average annual rate of 8.3% (inflation-adjusted 4.4%). 

Over the past three complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, DHR spent on average 86.1% of its locally funded budget, very close to the citywide average 86.4% local fund spend.

Staffing levels at DRH increased from 2011-2025 at an average rate of 3.9% annually, compared to a citywide average annual change of -0.1%.

From February through September of 2025, the months for which the city released full-time position vacancy data, DHR averaged a 15.2% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. 

Seven of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies, meaning that the same title/division/section/subsection combination was vacant for all eight months of available data:

Budgeted Position Changes

Overall headcount at DHR declined by a net -3 positions (-2.5%) from the previous year’s budget. 

The net -3 headcount reduction includes a number of reduced, eliminated, and added titles, with a single position each budgeted for the new titles of Director of Policy, Employee Assistance Program Counselor, and Project Coordinator (Excluded). The budget proposal eliminates two positions each from the Recruitment Manager and Onboarding Specialist titles, as well as single-position reductions in multiple other titles, including the elimination of the Clinical Therapist III (Excluded) title from DHR’s budget. 

Appropriations

DHR is entirely locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, with the majority of its appropriations coming from the Corporate Fund and smaller amounts from multiple other local funds. 

Fund	2025 Budgeted	2026 Proposed	Net Change from 2025	Percent Change from 2025	Percent of 2026 Recommended Funds
Corporate Fund	$11,399,730	$10,930,687	-$469,043	-4.1%	84.4%
Grants Management Fund	$975,000	$922,000	-$53,000	-5.4%	7.1%
Chicago O’Hare Airport Fund	$497,984	$530,992	$33,008	6.6%	4.1%
Water Fund	$307,073	$377,229	$70,156	22.8%	2.9%
Chicago Midway Airport Fund	$133,313	$137,317	$4,004	3.0%	1.1%
Vehicle Tax Fund	$54,000	$59,328	$5,328	9.9%	0.5%

Largest Appropriations

As with most departments, personnel costs make up the bulk of DHR’s appropriations, with salaries and wages on payroll by far the largest expense category. 

In 2024, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, DHR spent 84.8% of its locally-funded budget. 

Change from Previous Year

Nearly all of DHR’s appropriations remained the same as the previous year or declined, with a $1,704 (2.9%) increase in the Student as Trainees category the only year-over-year increase. 

The largest single-category decline was a roughly $176,000 (-35.8%) decrease in outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation.