School rebuild, prison modernization and some public services cut as BPT rollback trims recurring revenue

Budget deliberations on July 10 moved from revenue snapshots to concrete program impacts as senators asked why high-profile items were not funded.

Finance officials and the budget director told the Committee that the rollback in the business privilege tax (BPT) forced a roughly $40–44 million reduction in recurring revenue versus the executive’s 4.5% assumption, and that some large-ticket requests were not included in the FY27 substitute bill as a result. The budget director (S5) said the Simon Sanchez appropriation of $16,300,000 was not included because staff could not find a written contractual obligation or a concrete funding request to justify setting the funds aside for FY27.

Procurement and authorization: Committee members and finance staff debated procurement status for the Simon Sanchez leaseback. An official (S4) said the most-qualified bidder’s proposal was predicated on 32 years (30-year financing plus two years of preconstruction) and that the procurement remains contested by protest — in short, there is no awarded contract, and the law authorizes certain pledge language but does not equate to an immediate appropriation. "We haven't awarded yet," the official said. Another senator warned that appropriating the $16.3M now would double-count future years if both transfer authority and cash appropriations were used.

Service impacts: Senators and officials also discussed omitted or reduced appropriations for DOC modernization ($5M appropriated previously but largely unspent), village street repairs and resurfacing (a multi-million item not repeated annually), reductions to public-health local-match funding and corresponding federal-match losses, and compressed funding for training cycles in public-safety agencies. Officials cautioned that some programs have grown contractual obligations in FY26 because of floor amendments and federal or other resources that were not intended as recurring fixed costs.

What the committee will do next: Members said they will request procurement tapes and documentation to verify whether multi-year commitments were communicated during negotiations and to decide if further appropriations or supplemental funding will be needed. Officials said some interim or discretionary federal funds might be used for initial procurement steps but emphasized full appropriations or award would be needed to secure long-term payments.

Ending: The hearing moved to additional rounds of questions and a short recess so senators and staff could review rebuttal documentation; the Simon Sanchez procurement remains under protest and its funding status unresolved pending further documentation and committee decisions.