Enacted Budget – Fiscal Year 2026
On June 30, Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signed the state’s fiscal 2026 budget. The budget provides for $6.5 billion in general fund operating spending and stayed within the governor’s “Budget Reset” growth rate of 7.37 percent. The governor also signed the state’s one-time supplemental appropriation bill providing $37 million for one-time expenditures, as well as the state’s grants-in-aid bill and capital budget bill (“Bond Bill”) for fiscal 2026. The state’s revenue forecast released in June 2025 estimates net general fund revenues totaling $6.78 billion for fiscal 2026, a 1.2 percent increase over fiscal 2025. The budget is also based on estimated unencumbered funds of $446.9 million. The budget maintains a balance in the rainy day fund (known as the “Budget Reserve Account”) of $365.4 million, in addition to $469.2 million in the separate Budget Stabilization Fund.
The enacted budget invests in priority funding items in areas such as education, healthcare, and housing. For education, the budget includes funding for projected growth in K-12 schools and raising teacher pay, increased mental health support in schools, the creation of an Early Literacy Emergency Fund, teacher-driven projects, disciplinary needs, and a voluntary cell phone pouch pilot program. For healthcare, the budget directs funds towards reducing other post-employment benefits (OPEB) liabilities, covering the state share of state employee and state retiree health insurance premiums, residential and childhood lead prevention and remediation, and eliminating medical debt. For housing, the budget invests in initiatives focused on workforce housing, affordable rental housing, urban redevelopment, and the Strong Neighborhood Housing Fund.