Austin IT Consolidation Plan Sparks Union Protest Over Budget Concerns

Union members representing city workers protested Wednesday morning on the steps of City Hall, opposing a proposal to consolidate 1,000 IT employees across multiple departments into one office.

The reorganization plan comes after external auditors reviewed the city's information technology operations, which are spread across at least 12 departments. City staff presented the auditors' recommendations to the city council's audit and finance committee Wednesday after the protest.

The audit found that Austin's IT spending exceeds industry benchmarks by 81% when compared to nine U.S. local governments with similar levels of operating expenses and employees. That's a gap of about $201 million.

Auditors also found that Austin's IT staffing levels are 98% higher than peer cities. The report did not list which peer cities it compared Austin to.

City Manager T.C. Broadnax called for the IT audit last May, in an effort to reduce the number of similar IT departments and slash costs.

Despite staff presenting some of the results from the audit to the council committee, the city still has not released the report itself. The Statesman obtained a copy of the report through an open records request.

City Chief Information Officer Kerrica Laake previously told the Statesman that the consolidation, which is expected to begin in May, was not designed to result in layoffs.

"As the process progresses, we anticipate learning more about how roles fit together and where responsibilities may shift," she said in a statement. "The goal is a healthier, more coordinated organization."

Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo told council Wednesday that IT has been one of the fastest areas of growth in the city's budget. Efforts to tamp down on IT spending started before the failure of the city's November ballot measure to hike property taxes by over 20% or the city's recent efforts to boost efficiency, including the citywide audit, he added.

"I'm really proud to say that we didn't wait for the city council and the community members to say, 'Hello, we need government to operate more efficiently,'" he told the committee. "This is an effort that's been underway for nearly a year now."

The local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union delivered an open letter to Broadnax before the presentation, asking him to end the "One ATS" consolidation.

"As public servants committed to protecting the safety, data, livability, and future of our community, we are duty-bound to demand that you stop OATS," union members wrote. "We are committed to delivering efficient, effective technology services, and we understand the City is under financial stress. We won't support harmful, consultant-driven reorganizations like OATS."

Geospatial Analyst Braniff Davis was one of the IT workers who spoke on the steps of City Hall before Wednesday's meeting. Davis said he worried that response times for requests would be slowed with a centralized IT system, particularly for work done by subject matter experts like him.

"The city decided that because we have IT in our titles, and because we use the software to do one aspect of our jobs, that is all we are. Everything else in our job description does not matter," he said. "We are afraid that if a natural disaster strikes, our city won't have the specialist or expertise needed to respond quickly and effectively."