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Appropriations committee approves Department of Revenue budget adjustments; license‑plate automation reduces commodities costs
Summary
The committee approved the Department of Revenue’s budget recommendations for FY2025–2026, reflecting deletions tied to declining county mineral fund receipts and reductions tied to license‑plate automation and ARPA funding.
The House Appropriations Committee on Aug. 27 approved the Department of Revenue’s budget recommendations for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, with committee members noting deletions tied to lower special county mineral production tax receipts and the end of printed license‑plate production.
Chairperson Wasser reported the department’s budget is approximately 11% above the 2024 level, in the range of $126–$127 million. The agency carried over special general fund monies into FY2025, had no supplemental requests and proposed deletions to reflect consensus revenue changes driven by lower special county mineral production tax receipts (oil and gas production fees).
Wasser said the agency deleted roughly $4.9 million related to license plate replacement costs; the deletion reflects the shift away from physical stamping/printing because license plates are now produced digitally. Committee members asked follow‑up questions about the accounting that produced large commodity expense drops from roughly $6.26 million in 2025 to about $3.7 million in 2026; Chairperson Walsinger confirmed the bulk of the change was the license‑plate deletion and reductions in contractual services.
Committee members also discussed an item that surfaced in the previous conference committee: a late amendment that would have provided $9 million to reimburse county treasurers for certain duties. Wasser said no department request or committee discussion followed the circulation of that amendment and that county treasurers did not seek the reimbursement through the committee process.
For FY2026 the department’s ask decreased approximately 3%, reflecting deletions carried forward in special funds and a $179,000 addition from SGF for computer software and programming with the administration and motor vehicles divisions. The committee moved and approved the recommendations by voice vote.
Ending: The committee approved the Department of Revenue’s budget changes and noted the shift to digital license‑plate production as a major driver of commodity expense reductions.
