Primary Department: Management and Budget
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Daniel Ramos, Executive Director, Office of Management and Budget
Secondary Department: Choose an item.
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official:
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Discussion Item
Project ID (if applicable):
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable):
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable):
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: Choose an item.
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable):
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): Choose an item.
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 significant risk and the savings could be redirected elsewhere throughout the fiscal year.
County Strategic Plan Goal: N/A
County Strategic Plan Objective: N/A
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): Choose an item.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): Choose an item.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): Choose an item.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): Choose an item.
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): Choose an item.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): Choose an item.
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan:
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Precinct(s): Countywide
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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Existing Budget |
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Total Existing Budget |
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Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
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Total Additional Budget Request |
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Total Funding Sources |
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Grants - Proposed Budget (For Grants Items only) |
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Local Match Source - Existing Budget: Choose an item. |
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Local Match Source - Additional Budget Request: Choose an item. |
$ |
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Grant Funds Applied for/Awarded (Total) |
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Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new Position Control Numbers (PCN)s) |
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Current Position Count for Service |
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Additional Positions Request |
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Total Personnel |
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County Attorney’s Office Legal Review (for Harris County Code Items only) |
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CAO Reviewer Name and Title |
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CAO Review Completion Date |
Click or tap to enter a date. |
Anticipated Court Date: 2/26/2026
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): Click or tap to enter a date.
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Bhumit Shah-Deputy Executive Director, Expenditures, Office of Management and Budget
Attachments (if applicable): Recommended Vacancy Savings Transfers