GFO proposes budget amendments to extend and reclassify ARPA-funded positions

Tiffany Greenmeier, director of the Governor’s Finance Office, told the joint Assembly and Senate committees that GFO will submit budget amendments to revise ARPA funding decision units and to continue a limited number of ARPA-funded positions into the 2025–27 biennium.

Greenmeier said the office’s base budget includes 39 positions and that decision unit E499 sunsets much ARPA funding. She said the ARPA positions currently fund work through April 2027 for some roles, and that the first budget amendment will: correct projected ARPA amounts, balance funds forward into fiscal years 2026 and 2027, and continue funding for four positions to close out projects through the end of the biennium. "We currently have 7 ARPA positions filled," Greenmeier said when asked by lawmakers about current staffing for one account.

Greenmeier also described a second amendment to reclassify a budget administrator to a deputy director to "support the need for a uniform management of state agency budgets within the governor's finance office." She said the reclassification would shift oversight responsibility to ensure more consistent supervision of executive budget officers.

Committee members asked for clarification on which ARPA-funded positions across state agencies the GFO proposes to carry forward. Curtis Palmer said the GFO was identifying about 60 positions statewide that have ARPA funding authority for fiscal 2025 and that staff would provide exact counts for how many are filled. Palmer and Greenmeier said they would deliver the requested position and fill counts to legislative staff.

Members received a commitment that the GFO would deliver the budget amendments to the committee by the following Monday and would provide staff with lists of affected positions and projects. No formal votes were taken at the meeting on those requests.