Governors approve 2027 license fee proposal, setting baseline at $475 after brief reserve discussion

Members identifying themselves as governors voted to adopt the 2027 license fee proposal as presented, setting the baseline fee at $475, in a roll-call vote that passed 9-3.

The motion to "accept the budget/fee proposal as presented" was moved by an unidentified member and seconded by Todd; the vote record shows yes votes from Governors Ahern, Wynne, Couch, Vang, Larry, Dresden, Faye, Price and Petrasic, and no votes from Governors Arneson, Rathbone and Bloom. The chair confirmed the motion passed "with 3 votes in the negative."

Treasurer Nam Nguyen, who introduced the item, said the board was setting fees for 2027 rather than the current year and noted that "the current year license fee is already out. That's at $468, and licensing is currently ongoing, and everyone should have received an email to renew your license." Nguyen told members that a Department of Labor and Industry cost-of-living adjustment of about 6% would have pushed the fee to roughly $500, but that the Budget and Audit Committee recommended a smaller increase to $475.

Tiffany, who summarized the Budget Audit Committee memo and projections, said the materials included multiple scenarios showing the projected reserve impact under different fee levels. She told the group that adopting the recommended fee "would still lead to a projected loss and a spend of the reserve of about 1000000 dollar" and that the memo compared a reported prior net use of reserves of '17' in 2026 with a projected '25' for 2027; the transcript does not specify the units for those '17' and '25' figures. Tiffany also noted that the organization is expected to outperform its 2025 budget overall and that a separate operating reserve balance is $2,500,000.

A participant asked about appropriate reserve sizing; Tiffany replied that unrestricted reserves are separate from board-designated reserves such as the operating (rainy day) reserve, and that auditors and the Budget Audit Committee have reviewed what constitutes a sufficient months-of-operations buffer. Another governor raised that the timing of this fee decision could affect upcoming discussions about "Keller."

After a brief exchange about whether to specify a single dollar amount (some categories have different rates), the group approved the fee proposal as presented. According to presenters, the committee will revisit fee-setting in future budget cycles.

The meeting moved on after the vote; no follow-up directive or implementation timeline for the fee change was recorded in the transcript.