Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Ocp topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Office of Consumer Protection highlights cross-border elder fraud, asks for two positions in FY26 budget
Summary
OCP director Eric Friedman briefed the Public Safety Committee on a small net budget increase and recent investigative successes, and staff and council members debated when to fund two full-time positions tied to a recently passed bill.
Eric Friedman, director of the Office of Consumer Protection, told the Public Safety Committee that OCP'has grown investigatory capacity and recently recruited subject experts in automotive and home-construction fraud. "Thanks to our talented staff, we have launched our podcast recently to protect consumers and to educate consumers," Friedman said, noting a case in which an elderly resident lost about $400,000 and OCP traced stolen refunds to a bank in Ontario that led to an arrest in Canada.
OMB staff reported the FY2026 recommended OCP operating budget shows a net increase of $168,255 (about 5.9%) driven by compensation adjustments and offsets in operating expenses. The department and staff noted that a bill the council recently passed carried a fiscal-impact estimate for two full-time positions that were not included in the recommended budget because of timing.
Council members and staff debated next steps for those positions. One member suggested waiting for the county executive's amended budget; others said adding the positions now to the reconciliation list would ensure they are not overlooked. "We might as well just put it into the budget now during the budget process," one member said, urging that funding timing be aligned to the bill's effective date.
The committee did not take a separate final action on the positions during the briefing and agreed to carry the item forward for reconciliation and potential inclusion once the executive transmits amendments. The committee indicated it would reconcile the request at full committee or when the executive's amendments arrive.
