Joint Fiscal Office outlines Budget Adjustment Act changes, $137 million available for FY2026

Emily Fern, Joint Fiscal Office fiscal staff, told attendees that Senate changes to the Budget Adjustment Act will add or shift funding for municipal grants, personnel positions and one-time transfers, and leave about $137,000,000 available to carry forward into fiscal 2026.

Fern presented four spreadsheets and said the Senate's changes include funding for a physician and solicitor positions in the Attorney General's Office, two positions for the Human Rights Commission (about $62,000), municipal grant appropriations intended to cover prior awards in Addison County and new flood-related municipal grants, a transfer to an emergency personnel survivors benefit fund, and an additional reversion from the Treasurer's Office.

Why it matters: the edits shift one-time resources and previously appropriated grant dollars, affecting municipal flood recovery funding and the state's near-term available balance. Fern said the package as amended would leave roughly $137 million for appropriation in FY2026, subject to bill language that has not yet been finalized.

Details presented

- Municipal grants: Fern said $1.8 million "will cover the Addison County grants that were made last year" and also provide funds for new grants to municipalities affected by floods in July 2024. She said $200,000 appropriated last year for Addison County grants had not been disbursed and was folded into the current totals.

- Emergency personnel survivors benefit fund: The Senate version adds a transfer of about $220,000 into a newly shown emergency personnel survivors benefit fund; Fern said this appears on the transfer sheet as line 18.1 and that the amount corresponds to the Treasurer's office discussion earlier in the meeting.

- Reversions: The package includes an additional $6,000,000 reversion from the Treasurer's Office appropriation (listed on line 88 in the spreadsheet), which Fern said helps balance the adjustments.

- Personnel and other small changes: The Senate package adds funding for a physician and solicitor in the Attorney General's Office and two Human Rights Commission positions (about $62,000). Fern described these as among the highlighted top-of-page changes from the House version.

- Net effect: Fern summarized that the net of the Senate changes results in about a $4,000,000 positive swing compared with the House numbers, producing the roughly $137,000,000 carryforward figure. She cautioned that explicit bill language directing how that carryforward will flow is not yet in the draft.

Attribution and process notes

Fern presented the spreadsheets during the meeting and walked members through the highlighted differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions. Meeting participants asked no substantive questions about the line items after the presentation and discussed drafting bill language; a staff member referenced someone named Greg as drafting the necessary bill language.

Next steps

Fern said the carryforward language will need to be added to the bill; staff are preparing the language and will finalize it before the package advances. No formal motion or vote on the adjustments was recorded in the provided transcript.