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Controller asks committee to bring LUMA costs on budget as Business Information Infrastructure Fund expires
Summary
State Controller Brandon Wolf told Joint Finance the Business Information Infrastructure Fund that has paid much of LUMA implementation costs will expire and the controller requests funding and positions to continue LUMA sustainment and agency support.
State Controller Brandon Wolf told the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee the office needs legislative approval to move LUMA (the statewide enterprise resource-management system) costs from the Business Information Infrastructure Fund (BIF) into the controller's on-budget appropriation after the BIF expires at the end of the fiscal year.
Budget analyst Frances Lippett explained the BIF has funded LUMA sustainment and that the continuous appropriation will expire June 30. She said the controller's FY2026 request totals about $15.2 million, including personnel to bring current continuous-appropriation positions onto the general fund payroll and dedicated-fund appropriation for the computer service center.
Controller Brandon Wolf noted the office currently has roughly 47 staff working on LUMA and that 20 of those positions (13 previously authorized but unfunded plus several additional roles) need general-fund support as the BIF ends. "If you think about that, 20 of the positions, if we did not have the funding, then we would almost cut the LUMA team in half," Wolf told the committee, warning that would jeopardize timely payroll and vendor payments if sustained staffing were removed.
Wolf and Lippett outlined components of the request: about 7 additional FTPs with $2.16 million in personnel costs to formalize positions already in use, roughly $800,000 to cover LUMA infrastructure costs within the computer service center, and funding for two financial specialists to provide shared-services processing for smaller agencies. Lippett said the governor recommended the requested enhancements.
Members asked about the history and rationale for LUMA. Wolf said the legacy systems were old, difficult to support and required recruiting scarce mainframe specialists; LUMA centralized previously disparate accounting systems into a single platform. Multiple legislators asked whether the project is delivering benefits; Wolf acknowledged implementation challenges but said the system is functioning and the state is on the right path. "We are firmly on the right path forward," he said.
Committee members also raised timing and audit concerns: Representative Orrin said audit delays tied to the transition have affected federal reporting; Wolf said the office was late closing books earlier in the fiscal year but that the team is working with agencies and auditors to complete federal reporting and move toward stable operations.
Why it matters: LUMA is the state's enterprise financial, procurement and HR system. Funding and staffing decisions will determine whether the controller can sustain operations, support agencies with shared services and meet financial-reporting deadlines.
Next steps: The controller asked the committee for continued trust and recommended funding to bring LUMA sustainment onto the office's fiscal-year 2026 appropriation; staff and the controller committed to provide lessons learned and additional documentation for legislative review.
