The Senate Appropriations Committee on Jan. 9 received a detailed briefing from Joint Fiscal Office staff on how carryforwards and contingency appropriations are closed out at fiscal year end and how an updated revenue forecast expected at the Emergency Board next week could change what is available in the Budget Adjustment Act.

Emily Burns, who identified herself as handling fiscal augments for JFO, told the committee that the year-end flow of extra revenues follows a specific order: first refill the stabilization reserve (targeted at about 5% before appropriations), then carry forward designated prior-year dollars (JFO used $138 million as an example), next fund the contingent-appropriations list and, only after those steps, allocate remaining money to the balance (rainy-day) reserve and the pension accounts.

The presentation noted that the contingent list included about $118 million at the close of the prior fiscal year; that list was used to leave some requests on hold while the base budget absorbed partial funding. JFO said about $16 million on the contingent list related to an Agency of Digital Services (ADS) capitalization request that was partially funded in the bill and left on the contingent list for later consideration.

JFO explained a separate $50 million appropriation to the Agency of Administration that can be transferred by the Emergency Board under the statute cited in the bill. "The transfers made by the Emergency Board shall not exceed 2% of total general-fund appropriations for that year," the presenter noted; on a roughly $2.5 billion general-fund base, that ceiling is the statutory reason for the $50 million figure.

A small portion of that appropriation has already been used: JFO said $250,000 was transferred to the Vermont Food Bank as a bridge grant during a lapse in federal SNAP issuance, and JFO described onetime state SNAP payments that covered about 15 days of benefits plus administration (administrative costs were capped at roughly $100,000 in the implementation described).

On revenue assumptions, JFO staff said the twice-yearly consensus revenue forecast (adopted in January and updated in July) is the statutory baseline for the governor's budget and for the legislature. The office told the committee that the updated forecast to be adopted by the Emergency Board next week is expected to increase general-fund revenue by about $77 million relative to prior assumptions and that about $77 million of the roughly $120 million change in the governor's Budget Adjustment Act is accounted for by that forecast update.

Unidentified presenters emphasized that the amount shown on the forecast can change between Emergency Board adoption and subsequent adjustments: "When it's updated next week, that available revenue will fluctuate accordingly," one presenter said.

Committee members asked whether the governor had proposed unreserving any of the larger reserved tranches; JFO replied that the governor's BAA did not propose unreserving the $230 million tranches reserved in the general fund and that those tranches remained for their initial purpose.

The briefing concluded with a reminder that JFO posts the detailed spreadsheets, highlight documents and monthly revenue trackers on its website so members can review the component-level numbers that produce the consensus forecast.

Next steps: the Emergency Board will consider and adopt the updated revenue forecast next week; the House Appropriations Committee will continue work on the BAA and the Senate will subsequently deliberate the Budget Adjustment Act and the regular budget as the session calendar proceeds.