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Oakland County approves five fiscal‑service positions to handle grants, billing and reporting
Summary
The Finance Committee approved adding five positions to the county fiscal services division to address a 20% staffing decline in that division since 2001 and rising grant, billing and reporting workloads; staff will return in Q1 with a budget amendment and requested follow‑up data requested by commissioners.
The Oakland County Finance Committee approved a request to add five full‑time positions to the county's Fiscal Services Division to handle growing grant administration, billing and reconciliation and other accounting work.
Deputy CFO Cheryl Johnson told the committee fiscal services has seen about a 20% staffing reduction since 2001 while the county overall has grown. "Fiscal services has experienced a 20% decrease in our staffing since 2001," Johnson said, and she described an expanding workload that now includes new funds and programs—Oakland Transit, a housing trust fund, opioid settlement reporting, parks millage grants and additional water‑resources grants—that require more bookkeeping, grant compliance and billing reconciliation.
Johnson said her staff is "exhausted" and that the five positions would be allocated as follows: one position charged fully to Water Resources, one charged fully to Parks, and three primarily general‑funded positions with partial chargebacks (including opioid settlement and transportation funds). She described the request as a mix of positions dedicated to specific departments and two flexible roles for grants and general‑fund reporting.
Commissioners asked for additional information before final budget approvals. Commissioner Smith Charles and Commissioner Spitz requested an organizational chart showing the fiscal division structure. Multiple commissioners asked staff to provide overtime trends by month and a forecast for 2025 to quantify current workload and to strengthen the business case for the hires. Johnson said she would provide those materials and that a budget amendment would come in Q1 to reflect the personnel costs.
Johnson provided preliminary cost figures during discussion: if hires start in February, a nine‑month general‑fund share was estimated at about $244,000; other scenario figures mentioned during the discussion included $343,000 and $358,000 (Johnson described those as all‑inclusive wages and fringe estimates depending on chargebacks and full‑year costs). She also told commissioners some of the positions would be funded by chargebacks to departments that receive the grant or program benefit.
The measure was moved by Commissioner Smith Charles and supported by Commissioner Taylor. The transcript does not include a detailed vote tally for this item; committee members indicated the motion passed during wrap‑up of the meeting and a budget amendment was scheduled to be filed in the first quarter.
Follow‑up directions recorded in the meeting: staff will deliver an org chart, an overtime‑by‑month trend report and a forecast for 2025; staff will prepare the formal budget amendment for Q1. Johnson said recruiting is already underway for some positions and that she expects candidates could start by mid‑February if approved.
The committee discussion noted the county handles many grants and that improved central tracking and additional fiscal staff can reduce the risk of noncompliance and the possibility of returning grant funds because of missing reporting capacity. Commissioners and staff discussed charging a portion of costs to grant administrative fees where applicable.
