House Appropriations hears overview of Budget Adjustment Act as revenue forecast adds roughly $172 million to FY25

Members of the Vermont House Appropriations Committee received an overview of the Budget Adjustment Act on Dec. 10, 2024, from Emily Burns of the Joint Fiscal Office and staff, who outlined why mid‑year budget adjustments are required and what the administration will present to the legislature later in the week.

Burns said the BAA is “an adjustment to the current year budget,” and described it as the mid‑fiscal‑year opportunity to appropriate unforeseen revenues and address unplanned expenses. She told the committee that the Emergency Board adopted a new revenue forecast in July that added about $172,000,000 to FY25 general fund receipts and that the Emergency Board will adopt another forecast on Jan. 22 that could change available revenue again.

The nut of the presentation was how the administration proposes to use the extra revenue and how the BAA fixes technical and timing problems that arose as the FY25 budget was finalized. Burns said the administration’s BAA proposal contains roughly $110,000,000 of current‑year adjustments and that some of the additional revenue is being held to carry forward into FY26; she identified approximately $87,000,000 that the administration is proposing to reserve in FY25 for use in the next fiscal year.

Committee members heard examples of typical…