Joint Finance reviews Department of Administration budget; committee presses on governor's housing fund and risk management staffing

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee reviewed the Department of Administration's FY2026 budget on Feb. 17, 2025, where analysts outlined funding sources, staffing, and several specific requests including an ongoing general-fund appropriation for the governor's housing stipend and new risk-management staff.

Frances Lippett, budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, told the committee the Department of Administration houses five budgeted programs and that roughly 10% of the department's appropriation comes from the general fund. She said the governor's housing committee and the governor's residence fund are established in Idaho Code and that the fund currently provides a monthly housing stipend "currently set at 4,551." Lippett said the department requested a general-fund appropriation to restore the fund balance after a prior $30,000 request was not funded; she reported two different FY2026 request figures during the presentation (both $60,600 and later $660,600 were stated in the transcript).

The discrepancy in the transcript aside, Lippett…