Department of Administrative Hearings – BGA Policy 2027 Budget Snapshot

The Department of Administrative Hearings is a quasi-judicial body authorized to administer hearings on ordinance violations that do not include a penalty of imprisonment. Administrative hearings offer an alternative to full court cases for low-level traffic violations, building code violations, and similar non-violent, city-level offenses.

• Headcount and inflation-adjusted appropriations at DAH are both down over time, with slight, slow declines in both categories. 

• Most adjustments in DAH’s budget proposal are relatively minor, with a -$268,984 (-8%) decrease in outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation the largest cut. Increases in IT maintenance (up $178,214, or 13.1% from the previous year) and salaries and wages on payroll ($173.230, or 5.1%) are the largest increases.
  
• The 2027 proposal makes no changes to budgeted positions at DAH. Headcount, titles, and positions remain the same as in 2026.

DAH’s budget has not kept up with inflation in recent years, growing at an average annual rate of 1.0% from 2011-2026, which adjusted for inflation through 2025 equates to a -1.1% annual decline. The city budget as a whole grew at an average rate of 5.5% (inflation-adjusted 3.2%) over the same time period. 

The current proposal would increase the department’s appropriations by 1.3% from the previous year.

Estimated Fringe Costs

City budgets do not break out “fringe” pension and benefit costs for non-grant positions by department, instead grouping them together as citywide expenses under the Finance General section of the budget. To better reflect the real cost of service for departmental operations, BGA Policy has included an estimate of pension and benefit costs for the years 2018-2026, using Department of Finance fringe memos from each relevant year. An estimated fringe cost for the 2027 proposal uses the average annual rate of increase for each of the inputs into the fringe formulae. 

Based on the city’s fringe formulae, the DAH fringe cost for nongrant employees averaged 23.4% from 2018-2026, compared to a citywide average of 26.8%. 

Local Fund Actual Spend

Over the past four complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, DAH spent on average 84.2% of its locally funded budget, compared to the citywide average 86.6% local fund spend.

Budgeted Positions & Vacancies

Headcount at DAH has declined slightly over time, down an average of -0.8% annually from 2011-2026, compared to a citywide average annual change of -0.1%. The current budget proposal makes no change in DAH’s budgeted positions.

From January through September of 2026, the months for which full-time position vacancy data is currently available, DAH averaged a 16.% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. 

Three of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies (defined as the number of positions within the same combination of title, subsection, section, division, department, and fund codes that remained vacant in all nine months of available data): 

The 2027 proposal makes no changes to budgeted positions at DAH. Headcount, titles, and positions remain the same as in 2026.

DAH is entirely funded out of the city’s general-purpose corporate fund, as in the previous year.

Largest Appropriations

Salaries and wages make up the largest of DAH’s appropriations, followed by outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation. 

In 2025, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, DAH spent 87.8% of its locally-funded budget, with no overspend in any individual categories.

Change from Previous Year

Most adjustments in DAH’s budget proposal are relatively minor, with a -$268,984 (-8%) decrease in outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation the largest cut. 

Increases in IT maintenance (up $178,214, or 13.1% from the previous year) and salaries and wages on payroll ($173.230, or 5.1%) are the largest increases.