The city of Friendswood employs 57 people per 10,000 residents, a total of 242 employees, compared to Galveston’s 171 city employees per 10,000 residents. Friendswood City Council noted the statistic during discussion of its preliminary fiscal year 2022-23 proposed budget at its July 11 meeting. “Friendswood is as lean and mean as you can be when it comes to staffing. We have the lowest staffing ratio out of any Houston metro-area city, and we’re proud of that,” City Manager Morad Kabiri said.
Some of the neighboring cities highlighted for comparison are destination cities, Council Member John Scott noted, with more employees needed to accommodate tourism.
Amid increasing personnel costs, the city has managed to keep its staffing low, Administrative Services Director Katina Hampton said. Hampton noted during the meeting the rising living expenses for the city’s “most valuable resource,” with an average $4,700 increase for a family of three.
Friendswood does not offer a cost-of-living adjustment to its employees. Rather, employees receive merit increases after an evaluation of their performance, according to Kabiri.
Providing adequate merit increases for employees based on their performance is the only way for the city to maintain its slim staffing ratio, Kabiri said.
The city has $630,000 budgeted in its preliminary FY 2022-23 financial plan for city employee merit increases, Hampton said. Total personnel costs are estimated at $23.3 million, an increase of $1 million from FY 2021-22.
“We are doing all that we can with the least number of people possible, and I think the current services are well-maintained,” Hampton said.
