Primary Department: Management and Budget
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Daniel Ramos, Executive Director, Office of Management and Budget
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Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Discussion Item
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Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request by the Office of Management and Budget for discussion and possible action on the Harris County strategic hiring savings projections and accrued vacancy savings.
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Background and Discussion:
Harris County Commissioners Court adopted a Strategic Hiring Freeze with the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, with the goal of recouping 25M in vacancy savings across both frozen positions and regular attrition based vacancy. OMB came back on the November 12th court with savings projections, and on the January 29th court with an estimated 9M in Q1 vacancy savings. OMB is recommending a portion of the Q1 accrued vacancy savings be transferred from departments to the General Administration Department. If approved by Commissioners Court, OMB is requesting authorization to make the transfers from the respective departments to the general reserves.
Expected Impact:
Transferring the accrued vacancy savings would ensure that the savings are realized and not redirected. Doing so would also allow for replenishment of county reserves that were used to cover the 25M projected savings from the hiring freeze.
Alternative Options:
The alternative would be to keep the accrued vacancy savings in the originating departments and forego a transfer back into general reserves. This presents signif...
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