The city's hiring practices concerning personal services contract workers violate the city charter, lack accountability and are "questionable and suspect," according to a city audit.

The 64-page report, released Tuesday, looked into the city's practice of bypassing civil service procedures to hire temporary employees. The city charter allows for these personal contract services hires, but only if a required service is "unique and essential to the public interest" and does not exceed one year, the audit said.

But city Auditor Leslie Tanaka wrote that city agencies and departments "virtually ignored these charter limitations." The audit covered the period up to June 30, 2005 — primarily during the administration of former Mayor Jeremy Harris.

"Mayor and managing director's personal service contract approvals and practices are suspect," Tanaka wrote. Many of the contracts seemed to have rewarded political insiders and some of them had "questionable credentials," he wrote.

In fiscal 2004, the city had 1,909 personal services contract employees, which represented 20 percent of the city's workforce, at a cost of about $10.9 million, the audit said.

Some contractors, the audit said, were better paid than the regular employees in the same position. The audit also said the city did not adequately monitor the contracts or provide "meaningful" reports to the City Council.

"Our random sample indicated that over 90 percent of personal services contracts are unbudgeted and, therefore, may not be reviewed by the council during the annual departmental budget process," Tanaka wrote.

In a written response included in the audit, Ken Nakamatsu, director of the Department of Human Resources, said he welcomed the audit and that his office is working to clean up the system. "We will seek ways to best ensure compliance," Nakamatsu wrote.

Nakamatsu said the number of contract workers may be closer to 228 because "a vast majority" are on on-call status. They would include ushers and civil service examination monitors.

He also defended the practice of hiring retirees to fill jobs that require special qualifications, such as in the Police Department.

"Rather than taking officers off the beat to perform the duties, the department has recruited willing retirees to fill the need," Nakamatsu wrote. "We believe this arrangement should be highlighted for praise rather than cited as an area of concern."