What a Municipal HR Audit Delivers
A municipal HR audit compares personnel records, written policy, decision authority, supervisor practice, pay and leave workflows, and actual outcomes. The result is a prioritized record of what is working, what needs attention, the authority behind each full-audit finding, and the practical sequence for repair.
This page is for Texas cities under 100 employees. Counties and special districts can use the same fixed-scope model, with entity-specific authority confirmed during scoping. For the broader method, see HR audit services for Texas employers; for a complaint requiring neutral fact-finding, use workplace investigation services.
Reviewed August 30, 2026 by Dr. Thomas W. Faulkner, DBA, SPHR. The engagement provides HR consulting and operational findings, not a legal opinion.
Who This Is For: Texas Cities, Counties, and Special Districts Under 100 Employees
When a city secretary, assistant manager, or finance director inherits HR alongside another role, records and practices can be difficult to reconstruct. This engagement gives leadership a documented starting point: what is complete, where decisions or files need attention, and who should own the next step.
Why a Municipal HR Audit Is Different
Municipal personnel work sits inside a governance system: delegated hiring and discipline authority, adopted policy, public accountability, purchasing rules, budget timing, and counsel coordination. The audit therefore tests not only whether a record exists, but whether the correct decision-maker acted under the correct authority and whether the file explains the decision.
Under Texas Government Code Chapter 552, responsive portions of personnel, audit, evaluation, or investigation records may be subject to disclosure, while privacy, personnel, litigation, and other exceptions may apply. The audit organizes records for leadership review; the municipality and its attorney determine disclosure obligations.
Compare the review, full audit, and stabilization project
Choose the amount of work you need. Each engagement stands on its own; the entry review does not include the full-audit deliverables.
| Engagement | What you receive | Who implements |
|---|---|---|
| File and policy review $4,500 | Sampled records and policy review, gap and priority lists, written summary, and a 60-minute findings meeting. No interviews or priced repair roadmap. | Your team. Additional work is scoped separately. |
| Full municipal audit $14,500 | Six-domain review and interviews, council-ready report and council memo, and a prioritized 90-day repair roadmap with cost estimates. | Your team or a separately commissioned repair engagement. |
| Stabilization project $24,500 | The full audit plus the priority repairs defined in the engagement letter, implementation meetings, supervisor tools, and 90 days of post-delivery support. | Faulkner builds the agreed repairs; city leadership approves and adopts them. |
Timing: Full-audit findings are due within 30 business days of document receipt. The entry review deadline and stabilization implementation schedule are stated separately in your scope. The findings deadline is not a promise that implementation is complete.
The Six Domains We Audit
The audit scores your organization across the six domains of the People Systems Design framework, each examined in municipal terms.
Job descriptions, the policy manual, and who actually has authority to hire, discipline, and terminate.
Personnel files, documentation quality, records retention, and compliance posture under FLSA, FMLA, and Texas law.
How people are hired, onboarded, and separated, and where those processes break.
Whether supervisors have been trained to document, correct, and evaluate, or have been left to improvise.
Turnover data, claims history, and whether leadership can see problems before they become claims.
Evaluation practices, discipline consistency, and pay practices that either hold the system together or quietly undo it.
Three Fixed-Fee Engagements: Look, Diagnose, Repair
The $4,500 review identifies document and policy gaps. The $14,500 full audit investigates the wider pattern. The $24,500 stabilization project includes that audit and builds the agreed priority repairs.
- $4,500 Look Are we exposed? A read of the files and the handbook, and a list of what turned up.
- $14,500 Diagnose What is driving the pattern, which repairs come first, and what are their estimated costs?
- $24,500 Repair Full audit plus the priority repairs defined in your signed implementation scope.
Personnel File & Policy Review
Choose this for a bounded review of existing files and policy. You receive a written gap list and a findings meeting without commissioning staff interviews or a full diagnosis.
Start with a Scoping Call- Sample review of personnel files
- Handbook and policy review
- Documentation and recordkeeping gap list
- Priority risk list
- Written findings summary
- 60-minute findings meeting
- Not included: Staff and leadership interviews
- Not included: Six-domain diagnosis
- Not included: Council-ready report
- Not included: Priced repair roadmap
Municipal People Systems Audit
Choose this when recurring issues need interviews and a wider review of how decisions are made. You receive supported findings, priorities, and repair cost estimates.
Start with a Scoping Call- Full six-domain audit
- Personnel-file sampling
- Handbook and policy review
- Staff and leadership interviews
- Policy-practice gap analysis
- Workflow and accountability review
- Compliance findings
- Risk prioritization
- Each finding cites the applicable statute, rule, or adopted policy; operating observations identify their evidence and basis
- Council-ready findings report
- 90-day prioritized repair roadmap
- Cost estimate for each recommended repair
- Council memo, ready for your agenda packet
- Findings presentation
- Not included: Implementation of the repairs
Municipal HR Stabilization Project
Choose this when leadership needs the agreed repairs implemented, as well as a diagnosis. We define the repair depth, approvals, and handoff in writing.
Start with a Scoping Call- Everything in the Municipal People Systems Audit
- Handbook and policy remediation
- Personnel-file restructuring
- Core HR forms and documentation set
- Supervisor documentation tools
- Complaint and intake process
- Hiring and onboarding controls
- Performance management structure
- Leave and accommodation workflow
- Job description and role-clarity repair
- HR calendar and compliance review cycle
- On-site FACTS documentation session for supervisors
- Implementation meetings with city leadership
- 90 days of post-delivery support
- Scope note: implementation covers the priority repairs identified in the audit roadmap, at the depth defined in your engagement letter before work begins. This is a defined project with a fixed fee, not open-ended consulting.
Municipal Purchasing: What You Actually Need to Check
All three tiers sit below the $100,000 state-law competitive procurement trigger in Texas Local Government Code §252.021, which rose from $50,000 effective September 1, 2025 under S.B. 1173.
Local charters, ordinances, purchasing policies, delegation, exemptions, and entity type determine the actual approval path. A published fee does not establish a city manager's signature authority. Confirm the applicable method and approval before contracting.
Confirm that path with your purchasing officer or city attorney. Legitimate phases must have independent scopes and approvals; work is not divided to avoid a purchasing threshold. Texas Local Government Code §252.062 prohibits intentionally separate, sequential, or component purchases made to avoid competitive requirements. A vendor packet with W-9, certificates of insurance, and references is available on request.
A Findings Report Organized for Council Presentation and Counsel Review.
The final 25% of the fee is waived on the Municipal People Systems Audit and Stabilization Project if a delivery standard below is missed. This guarantee covers the findings engagement on those two tiers; it does not apply to the entry file and policy review or promise a legal, funding, or workforce outcome.
- The findings report is not delivered within 30 business days of document receipt
- A finding lacks its applicable governing citation or stated operating basis
- The report is not written for direct presentation to your governing body
How delivery works and when each stage ends
The document request arrives on day one. Personnel file samples, the current handbook, pay schedules, and recent separation records.
Full-audit work includes file review, policy analysis, and staff interviews. The proposal identifies the interview sample and estimated client time; document collection and leadership decisions require additional participation. The entry review does not include interviews.
The findings report is delivered within 30 business days of document receipt, with the briefing scheduled that same week. On the audit tier, this is where the engagement ends.
Faulkner builds the priority repairs in the signed stabilization scope; city leadership supplies decisions, approves the tools, and assigns day-to-day owners. The implementation schedule is agreed in writing. Included support runs for 90 days after handoff.
What Happens After
The $4,500 review ends with a written findings summary and priority list. The $14,500 full audit adds the council-ready report and council memo and a prioritized repair roadmap with cost estimates. Your team can use those outputs internally; commissioning additional work is optional.
Take the stabilization project and the priority repairs are done when the engagement closes. All that is left is keeping the thing in working order, which some cities handle themselves and others put on a monthly retainer.
Questions Texas Cities Ask
The Public Sector Position, in Numbers
| Indicator | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| State and local governments with no succession planning process | 61% | MissionSquare / PSHRA / NASPE, 2025 |
| Expecting the most significant retirement wave is still ahead | 46% | Same, 2025 |
| Governments with a succession process, 2016 → 2024 | 12% → 13% | MissionSquare Research Institute |
| Naming competitive compensation a critical priority | 70%, down from 79% | MissionSquare / PSHRA / NASPE, 2025 |
| Hardest to fill: engineering / policing / nursing | 71% / 66% / 66% | Same, 2025 |
| Texas share of all EEOC charges filed nationally | ~10%, largest of any state | EEOC charge statistics by state |
Related municipal engagements: Classification & Compensation Study · Succession Planning · Reduction in Force Planning.
Choose the municipal HR work your leadership can act on
In a no-cost 30-minute scoping call, describe the decision, employee count, and approval process. We will identify the appropriate tier and explain the information needed to confirm scope, timing, and the fixed fee.