Senate Appropriations hears FY2026 general fund overview: health care, housing, education and one-time spending highlighted

At the Feb. 5 meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Adam, commissioner of finance, walked committee members through the FY2026 general fund sources, base adjustments, current-service pressures and a menu of base and one-time initiatives totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

"We begin with last year's base appropriations ... and then we add pay act," Adam said, summarizing the structure he presented in the committee budget book. He told members the administration's proposed FY2026 package includes about $34 million in new base initiatives and roughly $236 million in one-time appropriations and transfers; when combined with tax initiatives the administration described, he said the total initiatives approach $250 million.

Nut graf: The presentation covered expected revenue changes (including a lower property transfer tax figure tied to statutory distributions), base adjustments for items such as pensions and previously one-time programs, and a range of current-service pressures that together produced a roughly 6.1% rise from the base appropriation. The package attempts to address health-care costs, housing and infrastructure needs, and specific program funding such as PCBs testing and ADS billing stabilization.

Key revenue and base items

Adam said total base sources from the Emergency Board forecast, property transfer tax adjustments and direct applications amount to about $2.509 billion. He pointed to several revenue notes: a lower-than-previous…