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Detroit committee hears plan to split HRD budget into three departments; members press for org-chart transparency
Summary
City staff told the council the proposed Executive Organization Plan reallocates an adopted $90.6M HRD budget across HRD, a new Health, Homeless and Family Services (HHFS) department and OCFO, shifting staff but not increasing overall spending. Council members asked for clearer funding sources, names for reassigned roles and more public access to the org chart before final approval.
City staff told the Internal Operations Committee on Feb. 25 that the mayor's proposed Executive Organization Plan divides the adopted $90.6 million budget previously held in the Housing and Redevelopment Department into three parts: about $45.9 million remaining with HRD, roughly $41.4 million to a new Health, Homeless and Family Services department and $3.3 million to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. "This is our way of showing that there are no new dollars involved here," a staff presenter said, describing the mapping as budget-neutral and derived from the adopted HRD figures.
The presenter said the plan reallocates filled positions rather than adding new spending: 23 positions would move to OCFO (as part of the Office of Grants and Development), approximately 109 to HHFS and about 89 would remain in HRD. Committee members pressed for details on the timing and scope of the changes, asking whether the numbers are annualized and which funding sources (city, state, federal, ARPA) back particular functions. The presenter said the figures shown are annualized for FY2026 and that a report can be run to identify specific source breakdowns from the adopted HRD budget.
Members also pushed for names and reporting lines. "Where would I find those new 23 positions under the Chief Financial Officer column?" one council member asked; staff replied the team and managers would physically move to OCFO and be reflected in OCFO's total positions, though some elements of the org chart will be finalized and published after council review. The administration said it had not circulated the final org chart to the public because it wanted to reserve the graphic until council's review prevented the appearance of an approved plan.
Council members requested that staff provide working titles and names for key directors and asked the administration to identify funding sources for programs currently supported by ARPA once those dollars lapse. Staff said some programs would be prioritized for alternative funding and that the mayor considers programs such as Tangled Titles and asset-protection priorities.
The committee did not take a final vote on the Executive Organization Plan during the hearing; staff asked council members to submit any additional written questions and said they would provide further documentation, including vacancy lists and the mapping of budgeted positions versus headcount.
Next steps: staff agreed to provide the requested names and the funding-source breakdown from the adopted budget, and to publish the finalized org chart after council review.
