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LBB outlines Comptroller budget recommendation, flags FTE correction and IT priorities
Summary
The Legislative Budget Board presented recommendations for the Comptroller of Public Accounts for the 2026–27 biennium, including all‑funds totals, FTE cap adjustments and funding for statewide IT projects; the Comptroller and senators questioned staffing, modernization and selected exceptional items.
The Legislative Budget Board on Tuesday presented recommendations for the Comptroller of Public Accounts for the 2026–27 biennium that include $739,400,000 in all funds and changes to the agency’s FTE cap and riders.
The recommendation document identifies a technical error in the LBB calculation of the FTE reduction; LBB staff said the correct reduction should be 125.8 FTEs, which would provide a revised agency cap of 2,840.5 FTEs, and that the board intends to propose a technical correction during markup. Charlie Smith of the LBB summarized the recommendation and noted the correction to the FTE calculation.
Why it matters: the comptroller’s office handles statewide accounting, payroll and tax administration; funding and staffing decisions determine the office’s ability to keep the state’s financial systems online, complete IT modernization projects and provide taxpayer services.
The LBB summary lists several net funding changes: a $20.9 million decrease from removal of unexpended balances, an $8.0 million reduction in one‑time funding for statewide accounting and payroll systems, a $13.9 million increase transferred from fiscal programs for advanced tax compliance, and $11.6 million to biannualize statewide salary increases. Rider modifications include a net $10.7 million decrease in capital budget authority for the biennium and recommended changes to riders that would, among other things, uncapped an estimated appropriation of liquidity fees and removed the allocation from the opioid abatement account to the Division of Emergency Management.
On statewide IT systems, the LBB update and agency witnesses reiterated ongoing work to migrate agencies onto the centralized CAPS system; the LBB briefing said only three agencies remained to go live. The recommendation provides $106.9 million for ongoing CAPS support and management. Comptroller Glenn Hager described broader modernization priorities — replacing legacy mainframe systems such as the Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS) and the Texas Identification Number System (TINS/TENS), improving cybersecurity, and a STAR “bolt‑on” project to restore functionality not yet present in CAPS.
Hager asked the committee to restore some of the FTE reductions and to allow conversion of certain contractors to state FTEs. He outlined exceptional items in priority order, including funding for vacant positions and salary adjustments, targeted increases for the audit and enforcement divisions, STAR modernization, additional IT projects, and funding for Criminal Investigation Division positions.
Several senators questioned timeline, costs and recurring maintenance for IT projects and asked the comptroller to provide a historical summary of IT spending across sessions. The comptroller’s office said STAR and other modernization efforts would take multiple years and that some previous appropriations were insufficient compared with bid results.
The LBB presenter concluded the summary and opened for questions; the comptroller then testified and expanded on staffing and IT needs.
