Delaware’s budget writing committee begins solidifying changes to the state’s budget before it heads to the full General Assembly for approval.
The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) will spend the next two weeks voting on changes to the governor’s recommended budget (GRB) to craft a final spending bill that lawmakers will vote on before the end of June.
When Gov. John Carney released his recommended budget in January, he accounted for a 17% increase in state health insurance premiums, but in March, the State Employee Benefits Committee voted to hike premiums by 27%.
The higher premium hike is credited to an increase in medical claims across the board for state employees, as well as rising prescription drug costs and usage, particularly for weight loss medications.
“As we go through these next couple of days, what we’re going to see is a lot of the increase in the budget is really due to health care related expenses, as well as pay policy," said JFC Chair Trey Paradee.
Paradee is referring to Carney’s commitment to funding an across the board 2% pay increase for state employees, as well as significant wage increases for public education employees.
The governor’s recommended budget included around $90 million for the predicted health insurance premium hike, but JFC is adding over $70 million on top of that figure to try and manage the state’s share of rising health care costs.
Another major change JFC decided on is to get rid of pass through funding — a method of funding nonprofit agencies and programming by providing funds to state agencies who then disseminate those funds to the organizations.
Now, non-profits like Child Inc., People's Place II and the HOPE Commission will need to apply for funding through the Grant-In-Aid bill.
"I think it's important just from a good government transparency perspective that there is some sort of ongoing review process of how they're paid, how they spend their money, etc." Paradee said. "There are probably some — a few folks that are not happy about being disrupted, but I think it's the right thing to do, and I hope everyone supports us in that. And we want to make sure that, again, these organizations that provide these critical services, that they remain steadfast partners with us moving forward. We really rely on them, and I think this is a step in the right direction."
While JFC is otherwise sticking fairly close to the GRB, they did vote to expand education spending further.
In February, the Public Education Compensation Committee (PECC) recommended pay raises for teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, food service workers and custodians – all of which Carney committed to.
While Carney proposed phasing in the recommended bus driver hourly pay raise to $25 over two years, Legislative Analyst Kiley Thomson explains JFC committed to fully funding the raise in one year.
“The governor’s recommended budget was to bring bus driver pay from $22.50 to $23.75, and this body is moving to bring bus driver pay from $23.75 to $25.”
That leaves only one PECC recommendation for public education workers unfulfilled — the designation of state funding for IT professionals in schools.
"I had really hoped that we could fund the PECC recommendation for IT units which are sorely needed in our schools. It did not make it into the budget, didn't make it into the GRB or the markup process, and I just want to make my vow here that if I'm blessed to be here next year and still on this committee, I will continue fighting to have that funded," said JFC member and State Sen. Laura Sturgeon.
JFC also opted to include $242,000 to provide the necessary funding to require all public schools to offer only students who qualify for a reduced-price meal, under the federal School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program, a free breakfast and lunch every school day.
