State Controller urges continued funding to bring LUMA on budget; committee probes implementation and staffing needs

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee heard a presentation on the State Controller's office and the LUMA enterprise resource management project on Feb. 17, 2025, during which the controller asked the committee to approve bringing LUMA sustainment funding onto the Controller's budget and to fund new positions that the office says are critical to ongoing operation and close-out activities.

Frances Lippett presented the Controller's budget context and explained that LUMA sustainment had been funded from the Business Information Infrastructure Fund (BIF), a continuously appropriated fund that expires at the end of the current fiscal year. She summarized the controller's request to transfer LUMA sustainment costs onto the Controller's FY2026 appropriation: roughly $9.856 million in general-fund costs to support staff already working on LUMA and $5.5 million in dedicated fund appropriation for the computer service center to cover infrastructure costs billed to agencies.

State Controller Brandon Wolf described the operational necessity: the office currently has 47 employees working on LUMA and said 20 positions (including 13 previously authorized but unfunded) need sustained appropriation to keep the system functioning and to ensure payroll, accounts-payable and other core financial functions continue to run on time. Wolf said the BIF was originally used to fund LUMA implementation using indirect-cost transfers and that the fund will expire June 30, 2025; without an appropriation to absorb those ongoing costs the office said it would need to significantly reduce the LUMA team and risk service disruption.

Committee members queried the implementation, timelines, and consequences. Representative Bitzke asked what would happen if the request were not funded; Wolf said eliminating the funded positions would effectively cut the LUMA team roughly in half and would jeopardize timely payroll and vendor payments and the state's financial reporting cadence. Senator Satterfield and other members asked about LUMA's history and whether the program still offered a benefit; Wolf said legacy systems were aging, many required specialized (and scarce) technical skills, and that the system is now operating — several peer states with similar projects remain offline.

Lawmakers also raised audit and reporting concerns. Representative Orrin said delayed agency audits and late single-audit submissions have been a consequence of the transition; Wolf acknowledged a lag (he cited an eight-week delay in closing books for the Controller's portion of the annual comprehensive financial report) and said the requested staffing would help accelerate closings and agency support. Representative Tanner described continuing agency-side issues and asked whether central investments could allow agencies to reduce LUMA-related temporary staff; Wolf said the dust must settle but emphasized continued training, change management and user support to reduce long-run staffing needs.

Controller Wolf and staff offered to share lessons learned from the LUMA implementation to inform future state IT procurements and rollouts; he emphasized change management, training, and careful procurement as key takeaways. The committee did not vote on the Controller's request during the hearing; staff follow-ups and further appropriation decisions remain part of the FY2026 budget process.