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Agency of Administration outlines FY2027 secretary’s office budget, flags insurance fund pressure and limited-service position reductions
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Summary
Nick Kramer, chief operating officer of the Agency of Administration, told the Senate Appropriations Committee the secretary’s office FY2027 budget mostly holds steady but includes two limited-service position reductions, changes to Clean Water Fund payments and projected insurance fund volatility — including a 13.4% jump in workers’ compensation costs.
Nick Kramer, chief operating officer of the Agency of Administration, presented the secretary’s office portion of the agency’s FY2027 budget to the Senate Appropriations Committee, describing staffing changes, funding sources, and projected shifts in the agency’s insurance portfolios.
Kramer said the secretary’s office and financial services division are the focus of his presentation and identified the office’s staffing as a four-person unit. He said the agency’s overall funding mix for this business unit is roughly one-third general fund, one-third internal service fund (ISF), and one-third interdepartmental transfers (IDT), with a small special-fund slice for the Clean Water Fund. “We’re about a third general funded, about a third ISF, and about a third IDT,” Kramer said.
Kramer described two time-limited staff reductions in FY27. He said the recovery office will remove one limited-service manager position that had been tied to ARPA funding and that the office will continue to operate with three positions after the planned wind-down. He also said the Office of Racial Equity will lose one limited-service PDG (Preschool Development Grant) data analyst position because that grant-funded work has concluded.
Kramer outlined the Clean Water Fund’s revenue sources and how those revenues are used. He said the fund draws from abandoned bottle-deposit receipts, a 6% portion of the meals-and-rooms tax, and a surcharge on property transfer tax. Kramer characterized annual receipts as having ranged between roughly $2 million and about $3 million in recent years and noted the fund supports a small program of incentive payments — about $25,000 per municipality for four or five years — tied to municipal stormwater utility setup. “As long as I’ve been here, [the Clean Water Fund] has been between 20 — I think now it’s maybe up to, like, at least $3,000,000 a year,” he said.
On risk management and internal service funds, Kramer described three funds the office manages: workers’ compensation, general liability/auto liability, and an “all other insurances” fund. He said these funds fluctuate with claims experience and market conditions and reported projected changes for FY27: workers’ compensation is expected to increase by about 13.4% (driven by recent claims experience), general liability and auto liability are up roughly 5%, and the “all other insurances” category is down by about $1,400,000. “Workers’ comp went up this year by about 13.4%,” Kramer said.
Kramer also pointed senators to a 73-page packet with attachment fees, performance reporting data and charts the committee requested, and he offered to follow up on granular questions. He said a governor-requested appropriation of $220,000 for two years for an IDEO Vermont program was reduced in the final bill to a single year of funding, and he indicated the packet shows the single-year cost.
The presentation closed with Kramer inviting questions and offering to return with additional detail if the committee requests further follow-up. “If senators don’t have any other questions, there’s the attachment fees… I can follow-up and pick any questions,” he said.
