Appropriations Committee reviews governor's FY2027 executive office budget, flags vacancy savings and IT allocation quirks
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Summary
Deputy commissioner Arty Merrill told the House Appropriations Committee the governor's FY2027 executive office request totals about $2.5 million ($2,000,000 GF; $570,000 IDT), with a 4.4% net increase vs. FY26, large vacancy savings ($475,000) and an ADS allocation that masks a $10,000 actual increase.
Arty Merrill, deputy commissioner of Finance and Management, told the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 4 that the governor's FY2027 executive office recommendation requests $2,000,000 in general fund support and $570,000 in interdepartmental transfer authority, about $2.5 million in total. "We've got a $2,000,000 general fund budget and a $570,000 IDT," Merrill said, noting the package amounts to roughly a 4.4% increase over FY26 after internal service adjustments.
Merrill highlighted an unusual net decrease in the budgeted health insurance line despite rising premiums, attributing the change to internal personnel shifts and employees selecting less-costly plans. He also said the budget shows 14 exempt positions (including the governor) with 10 currently filled and that vacancy savings in the request total $475,000. "The total vacancy savings in this budget is actually $475,000," he told the panel, and he said the four currently vacant positions annualize to about $640,000.
Committee members asked which slots are vacant. Merrill walked through the org chart, identifying a vacant deputy chief-of-staff slot, a policy/communications reassignment that left another position vacant and an appointments director position that is not being backfilled after the prior incumbent left state service. He also described a position initially created for post-2023 flood recovery that has since moved to another agency and noted that the statutory title "executive director" commonly underlies many public-facing job titles.
Merrill flagged an apparent decrease in two ADS (Agency of Digital Services) budget lines that, on inspection, reflected a prior-year overbudgeting. He said combining SLA and allocation lines actually produces an estimated $10,000 increase in spending next year even though some individual lines look lower on the surface. "When you add those numbers together...their actual spend is gonna go up by 10,000 next year," he said, explaining the line-item change stemmed from FY26 budget starting points that were higher than actuals.
Merrill also described how the governor's office allocates IDT charges: about half of the $570,000 IDT total is charged to the Agency of Human Services; roughly $100,000 is allocated between the Agency of Transportation and DMV; other smaller portions go to public safety and ADS. He cautioned committee members that the budget "ups and downs" pages show deltas that can be confusing without the detailed backup in the budget detail report.
No formal action or vote was taken during the presentation; the committee paused for questions and thanked Merrill before moving to the next presenter.
The committee requested that staff and presenters be prepared to clarify any remaining page-level detail (for example, the budget-detail "ups and downs" entries) when the governor's team returns later in the hearings.
