Timeline of budget bills, Meyer going "line-by-line"
It is the third and final budget bill to be enacted for the 2027 fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. Meyer signed the more than $1.2 billon bond bill on July 7 with a line-item veto. The $6.9 billion operational budget got his signature on June 30, the last day of session.
Normally, all three budgets get the governor’s signature shortly after passing in the General Assembly on the last day of session.
According to a state senate spokesperson, Meyer’s signing on July 15 makes it the longest span between General Assembly passage of a GIA bill and governor signature since 1998, when the budget was enacted on July 9 that year.
The state senate and house passed the GIA bill at 4:14 am and 5:32 am on July 1 respectively. Last week Meyer said it's his job to, "scrutinize every line that's there" because it was passed "in the dead of night."
JFC chair says stresses to nonprofits likely
The $99 million GIA budget supports volunteer fire departments, nursing homes, and nonprofits. Senator Trey Paradee (D-Dover) chaired the Joint Finance Committee, which is responsible for the GIA's mark up. He said this year there are approximately 500 payments from the GIA bill, and with the delayed timeline recipients are set to get first payments in mid-August.
"That likely will put many nonprofits in a bind," Paradee said. Most senior centers and fire companies are in "solid shape" but he thinks of some nonprofits "that run pretty lean."
According to the state comptroller's office, Grant-in-Aid payments for fiscal year 2026 were sent "on or around" July 22, 2025. First payments for the new fiscal year, "have not yet been processed."
Paradee's heard anecdotal stories, "that some (nonprofits) are scrambling to figure out how to get their bills paid and to be able to stretch things out until the middle of August."
The Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement said it's grateful that the governor signed the bill into law. For future GIAs, it hopes that questions are addressed during the budget's drafting and consideration.
The mark-up happened on June 25. No changes were made between then and July 1. Representatives for the governor in budget matters were present during the mark-up and involved in the bill's drafting.
"We were all able to see what the Grant-in Aid bill looked like starting June 25, once markup was finished," Paradee said. He characterized working with the governor's staff from the Office of Management and Budget as productive and positive.
"I'm not sure why it took three weeks for him to feel comfortable signing the bill," he said.
JFC chair on governor's GIA questions
Paradee added that he did meet over Zoom with Meyer on July 13 to answer questions on budget line items related to: the Police Athletic League of Delaware, property assessment expenses in New Castle County, and a study to examine how Delaware funds its volunteer fire companies.
PAL of Delaware is set to receive $202,500 from the GIA. Questions around the organization's finances led the it to temporarily close two of its three locations last year. The state froze funding to the organization during Controller General's Office's review of the organization’s financial documents.
The PAL of Delaware provides youth services and after school programs in New Castle County. Paradee said the general assembly did not want resources that families and children rely on, "come to a halt."
With the understanding that the GIA funds are only to be used to continue these programs, "we felt that it was important that they that they do get some funding."
Paradee said the next item Meyer had questions on was the $2 million for New Castle County. Of that, Paradee said that $1.5 million covers mail costs for the county's tax rate changes.
The other $500 thousand paid for a quality control study and "other expenses" related to the county's property reassessment complications.
The third item Paradee said he answered questions on was $200 thousand to study how funding is allocated through Grant-in-Aid to volunteer fire companies. It enlists the University of Delaware for the study, which Paradee said is already responsible for the GIA formula used to fund senior centers.
Paradee said he explained to governor Meyer that the study goal is to make sure that the fire companies get fair resources.
