Idaho agencies submitted budget requests that exceed Governor Brad Little’s maintenance-only instructions, raising questions about how the state will assemble its Fiscal Year 2027 spending plan.
Little’s budget chief directed agencies in May to submit requests limited to maintaining existing services. The guidance prohibited new General Fund programs, pay increases beyond a 1% placeholder and General Fund line-item enhancements. It also barred agencies from shifting costs from federal or dedicated funds to the General Fund.
The memo described supplemental funding requests as a “tool of last resort.” Agencies submitted their budget requests in September, and many did not follow those standards.
General Fund requests increased by $446 million from the previous year, a 7.9% rise. That increase is roughly three times the state’s projected bottom-line margin of about $148 million. The overall budget question is approximately $15.2 billion.
Maintenance spending alone was essentially equal to the projected surplus. Fiscal Year 2027 supplemental requests totaled about $100 million before accounting for fire-season costs.
Requests Beyond Maintenance
Agency submissions included $20 million for a public-school funding-formula “modernization,” although no bill or funding formula was proposed for that request.
The Attorney General’s Office, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare mental health services and community colleges each requested full restoration of prior budget reductions. Medicaid requested $4 million for a provider rate increase.
Separate pay requests covered appellate defenders, administrative law judges and Industrial Commission referees. Idaho State Police requested a $6.3 million pay plan.
Career Technical Education proposed moving $1.9 million in costs to the General Fund. Universities and community colleges requested $12.2 million in workload adjustments. Little declined to fund those workload adjustments last year.
Vacancies and Federal Funds
Agencies also included more than 100 long-term vacant positions in their requests. The positions appeared in submissions from Labor, Health and Welfare, Corrections and the Idaho Department of Transportation.
Some agencies submitted salary requests that exceeded their own forecasts. Agencies also carried tens of millions of dollars in expired federal spending authority.
The requests are agency submissions, not Governor Little’s budget proposal. Little cannot directly control submissions from constitutional officers.
The Division of Financial Management said it “will not accept” certain submissions. The governor’s budget will determine whether agencies are held to the restraint directive as Idaho develops its Fiscal Year 2027 plan.