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Idaho budget outlook shows roughly $700 million structural surplus; governor recommends spending, transfers
Summary
Legislative staff told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee the state’s revenue forecast leaves a multi‑hundred million dollar structural gap in choices among tax relief, ongoing services and one‑time spending; the governor’s recommendation uses some one‑time cash while proposing transfers into savings and targeted spending.
Legislative fiscal analysts told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on multiple briefings that Idaho’s current revenue forecast leaves the state with several hundred million dollars of structural capacity to allocate for 2025 and 2026. Keith Bybee, division manager for budget policy analysis at the Legislative Services Office, said the chief forecasts show a structural balance "of almost $700,000,000" for fiscal 2025 and similar deltas into 2026 under the governor’s baseline numbers.
That structural balance reflects projected ongoing revenues compared with projected ongoing expenditures and represents policy choices, Bybee said. "The governor's budget is proposing a $338,000,000 ending cash balance for fiscal year '20 '20 '5," he added when summarizing the cash reconciliation in the legislative budget book.
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