Montgomery County’s Office of Innovation, Strategy, and Performance (OISP) was featured by The Philadelphia Inquirer today for helping to save $14 million over 2025 which has reduced the county’s deficit by roughly half.

The office was first announced in February 2025 and was designed “to enhance service delivery, optimize resources, and improve the lives of residents,” county officials said.

According to The Inquirer, officials have been meeting with department heads “to identify areas for cost cutting and streamlining services, such as eliminating almost a dozen vacant positions worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, saving $1.5 million on a prescription benefits provider, and conserving half a million dollars by bringing some county legal services in house.”

In 2025, the office inherited a roughly $25.5 million deficit, which resulted in a 4 percent property tax increase for residents. In 2024, the county’s deficit was $15.8 million, which resulted in a 9 percent real estate tax increase.

Layoffs have not been part of the process, The Inquirer said, and the office’s next phase is “Cutting red tape for residents. And part of that may be through enlisting artificial intelligence, something the county has been examining through the commissioners’ “Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence for Public Good” established in April 2025.”