Receive briefing on proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Rules. (Commissioner Shea)

Staff Report & Agenda Item Details

Attached are the FY 2027 Budget Rules in both legislative format for comparison to the FY 2026 Budget Rules as well as a clean copy for review by Commissioners Court. The proposed FY 2027 Budget Rules have also been shared with County financial staff. The proposed Budget Rules incorporate many of the requested changes from offices and departments along with additional recommendations from the Planning and Budget Office (PBO).<br id="isPasted"> <br>The Planning and Budget Office is proposing the following changes to the Budget Rules:<br><ol><li>Budget Rule #7: Increase to the amount of realized capital project savings that can be transferred to another capital project as an automatic budget transfer from $25,000 to $50,000. This allows for more efficient reallocation of completed project savings to finish other previously approved projects. This amount was last increased from $15,000 to $25,000 in FY 2025.</li><li>Budget Rule #13: Updated and clarified policy on recruiting and moving expenses for high-level positions.</li><li>Budget Rule #22: Clarified that potential County-owned lease space agreements should be evaluated using full cost recovery guidelines. </li><li>Budget Rule #24: Added the ability for funding within Department 195 (Centralized Emergency Response) to be transferred between personnel and operating commitment items as automatics as needed to respond to emergency events. This is also stated in Appendix #1 under Automatic Budget Adjustments.</li><li>Appendix #3: Removed most of this appendix as a result of the approval of the new Grants Policy on September 15, 2026.</li><li>Appendix #4G: Clarified language and procedures for food and beverage purchases to state that requests for these purchases should go through PBO as part of Budget Amendments and Transfers (BATs) and not placed on the agenda directly by requesting offices/departments.</li><li>Appendix #4H: further clarifies the types of kitchen appliances which can be purchased with County funds and which are maintained by Facilities Management Department (FMD).</li><li>Updated County benefit rates and proposed FY 2027 Pay Scales.</li><li>Several other minor clarifying changes or to correct scrivener’s errors. <br><br>In addition to the changes above, the indirect cost rates are still in the process of being revised. PBO will request approval to amend this section (Appendix 4K) upon their completion as part of adopting the FY 2027 Budget Rules on September 22. In the event that this information is still not available, PBO will return to Commissioners Court to amend the FY 2027 Budget Rules with this supplemental information as soon as it is available. </li></ol>