Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
PALERMO – Many were planned, but only a dozen arrived. The Municipality’s recruitment drive has been drastically scaled back, forced to hit the brakes on new permanent hires. The original programme, which envisaged 42 new officials, has been officially shelved by the municipal executive, which has approved public competitions for just 12 positions.
The change affects administrative, accounting and technical roles, as well as a chief editor, and stems from a deep financial and organisational short circuit.
Pre-bankruptcy and turnover savings: the short circuit
Underpinning the cut to the 2026–2028 Staffing Needs Plan, approved in the executive’s latest meeting, are the strict rules tied to the authority’s pre-bankruptcy status and its related recovery plan. The administration can only make new hires by drawing on so-called “turnover savings”: every new salary must be fully covered by the savings generated when employees retire.
A mechanism that ground to a halt in recent months:
- Extended service: Dozens of senior officials did not retire as scheduled—some were kept on by the administration to ensure continuity in the offices, others because they had not met the contribution requirements.
- Treasury note: By continuing to pay the salaries of those who should have left, the General Treasury certified in a confidential note an unexpected cost of over €1.5 million, wiping out the reserve earmarked for competitions.
Extensions for top staff and senior management
Alongside the retirement freeze, the reduced staffing plan has been affected by the decision to keep the authority’s top team in place.
The municipal executive has indeed extended, until the end of the mayor’s term, the fixed-term appointments of the Director General, 20 external managers and the cabinet office staff. This is a cost of over €700,000 a year, funded by drawing on the very same turnover savings that were supposed to finance the competitions for officials.
Even for 2026, the approach remains extremely cautious: of the five managerial posts previously envisaged, only one public competition will be held, while the remaining vacancies will be filled by drawing on internal lists or those of other local authorities.
