Controller asks JFAC to bring LUMA costs onto budget, warns funding gap would shrink project team

State Controller Brandon Wolf told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that the state’s enterprise resource management system, LUMA, needs ongoing funding moved into the controller’s budget now that the Business Information Infrastructure Fund (BIF) will expire at the end of the fiscal year.

Wolf said the office’s fiscal 2026 package requests $15.2 million overall to bring the project’s sustainment and staff onto the controller’s appropriation. The request includes funding for seven additional full‑time positions and about $2.16 million in personnel costs to fully fund positions that were previously authorized but paid from the BIF. The controller’s office also requested $5.5 million in dedicated fund appropriation for the computer service center to reflect infrastructure and overhead costs for LUMA.

“Those 20 positions — if we did not have the funding — then we would almost cut the LUMA team in half,” Wolf told committee members. He said the controller’s office has 47 employees working on LUMA and that 13 positions the office previously received authorization for (in fiscal 2022–23) were funded through the BIF rather than the general fund. Wolf said moving LUMA costs onto the appropriation preserves staff needed to keep payroll and payments processing functioning and to continue development and sustainment work.

Frances Lippett, the committee’s budget analyst, told members the BIF was created to fund LUMA implementation and sustainment via transfers of statewide cost allocation funds and that the continuous appropriation will expire on June 30. Lippett said the legislative intent at the time of implementation was to use the BIF to centralize one‑time implementation costs and then transition ongoing sustainment into a regular appropriation.

Committee members raised operational concerns about the LUMA transition. Representative Orrin emphasized the audit function and said delays in closing the books had delayed submission of federal audit packages. Controller Wolf acknowledged recent delays — the office was roughly eight weeks late closing the books for the first full close cycle — and said the requested positions and funding would help agency staff and the controller’s office complete financial reporting and audits on a timely basis.

Several members asked about the project’s original rationale and whether LUMA is delivering benefits. Wolf said the prior legacy systems were aging and required scarce technical staff to maintain; going to a modern enterprise resource planning system centralized accounting, procurement, budget and HR functions that previously operated across roughly 60 agency systems. He told members “the system is functioning. It is working,” and said that other states that began similar projects struggled longer or had not gone live.

The controller described lessons learned and offered to share recommendations with the legislature for future IT procurements, highlighting change management, procurement and testing as areas for improvement.

Ending

The committee did not take final action at the hearing. Controller Wolf asked the committee for continued trust and cooperation as LUMA moves from implementation to sustainment.