HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9875 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9875
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 19, 2016
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*a SUBJECT: RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT
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At the request of the Mayor and Council, the Human Resources Department was asked to
examine residency requirements and whether other municipalities offered any incentives for
employees to live within their municipality. The review included a survey of regional and national
municipalities and state and local code.
The survey included twenty-eight other municipal or county jurisdictions that included:
Regional Municipalities and Counties National Municipalities
• Arlington, City of • Charlotte, NC
• Austin, City of • Chicago, IL
• Dallas, City of • Columbus, OH
• Dallas County • Detroit, MI
• EI Paso, City of • Indianapolis, IN
• Garland, City of • Jacksonville, FL
• Grand Prairie, City of • Los Angeles, CA
• Houston, City of • New York, NY
• Irving, City of • Philadelphia, PA
• Mesquite, City of • Phoenix, AZ
• Plano, City of • San Diego, CA
• Richardson, City of • San Francisco, CA
• San Antonio, City of • San Jose, CA
• Tarrant County • Seattle, WA
Of the twenty-four jurisdictions that replied, none indicated that they provided any incentive to
live in the city or county for which the employees worked. The City of Philadelphia does
require General and Fire employees to establish residency within city borders in a six-month
period from time of appointment and Police Officer recruits within one year.
Additionally, in the case of some regional jurisdictions, residency was required for certain
positions - typically, these were appointed or executive positions. The most extensive was Dallas
County that included the budget officer, commissioners court administrator, elections
administrator, director of health and human services, director of human resources/civil service
department, chief medical examiner, director of the office of security and emergency
management, director of public works, public defender, purchasing agent, fire marshal and
assistant fire marshals and the veteran services officer.
However, Texas Local Government Code 150.021 specifically prohibits municipalities from
requiring residency as a condition of employment except for those persons appointed by the
mayor or governing body of the municipality. Chapter 2, Article V, Section 2-189 of the City Code
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9875
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council April 19, 2016
Page 2 of 2
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*a SUBJECT: RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT
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follows state law by only requiring that the city manager, city attorney, city secretary, city auditor,
parking bureau hearing officer orjudges of the municipal courts reside within the city limits.
Finally, any effort to monetarily incentivize sworn personnel for residency would require the
negotiation of a contract provision in order to avoid violation of the equal pay in a classification
provision of Civil Service Law.
As a result of this research, staff does not recommend the implementation of residency
incentives. If you have any additional questions, please contact Brian Dickerson, Human
Resources Director, at 817.392.7783.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS