Delaware

Delaware

Budget Cycle
Annual

Governor Submits Budget 
February 1

Fiscal Year Begins
July 1
 
Governor Signs Budget
By July 1 

Budget Links

FY2024 (enacted)
FY2024 (proposed)
FY2023 (enacted)
FY2022 (enacted)
FY2021 (enacted)
FY2020 (enacted)
FY2019 (enacted)

Enacted Budget – Fiscal Year 2024

On June 30, Delaware Governor John Carney signed the state’s fiscal 2024 budget. The budget provides for $5.6 billion in general fund operating spending, representing a 9.9 percent increase over the prior year, as well as $193.5 million in one-time expenditures and contingency funds provided in a supplemental bill. The enacted budget provides pay raises between 3 percent and 9 percent for full-time state employees, with the lowest grades receiving the highest percentage increases, and establishes a $15/hour minimum wage for full-time merit employees. The operating budget also includes salary increases for teachers, funds projected K-12 enrollment growth, and directs $20 million to targeted education and support services provided by the Redding Consortium for Educational Equity and Wilmington Learning Collaborative. Additionally, the budget invests $30 million in increased funding for K-12 student mental health, $21 million for early childhood education programs, $2.3 million for a residential lead paint remediation program, and $1.3 million to provide free legal representation to families facing eviction. The supplemental funding bill directs $51 million to address long-term retirement health liabilities, $30 million for statewide housing investments, $69 million in Medicaid contingency funds, and $13 million for new state agency technology purchases. Additionally, the legislature passed and the governor signed a $1.4 billion capital budget investing in roadway improvements, school construction, courthouse expansion, state building renovations, economic development, state park improvements, and clean water projects, as well as a $71.9 million grants-in-aid package providing funding to nonprofits.

Proposed Budget - Fiscal Year 2024

On January 26, Delaware Governor John Carney presented his fiscal 2024 budget recommendation. Total recommended general fund appropriations are $6.5 billion. This includes $5.5 billion in the operating budget, a 7.4 percent increase compared to fiscal 2023, in addition to $60 million for grants-in-aid, $325 million for one-time supplemental appropriations, and $665 million in dedicated cash to support the governor’s $1.3 billion separate fiscal 2024 capital budget (the Recommended Bond and Capital Improvements Act). The operating budget is based on a revenue forecast of $6.05 billion in net general fund collections for fiscal 2024, a 3.1 percent decrease compared to the fiscal 2023 revenue estimate. After a $25 million proposed revenue reduction, general fund revenues for fiscal 2024 are forecasted at $6.02 billion. The state’s rainy day fund, the Budget Reserve Account, has a projected balance of $326 million, or 5.9 percent of general fund operating spending. The governor also allocates $18.9 million (unencumbered general funds in excess of the constitutionally required set-aside of two percent of available general fund revenue) to a newer reserve known as the Budget Stabilization Fund, bringing that fund balance to $421.5 million in fiscal 2024. The projected unencumbered cash balance for fiscal 2024 is $135 million, meeting the two percent set-aside requirement. These three balances, together with continuing and encumbered appropriations of $1.6 billion, add up to a cumulative cash balance of $2.4 billion for fiscal 2024.


Proposed Budget Highlights 

Priorities in the governor’s budget for fiscal 2024 include strengthening the economy, investing in public education, supporting families and the state workforce, and protecting the environment. The plan also focuses on long-term financial sustainability, such as by fully funding reserves and allocating general fund cash to the capital budget, coupled with providing middle class tax relief. Some of the key proposals in the governor’s recommended operating and capital budgets include: 

Education

  • $10.3 million to increase childcare provider rates
  • $15 million increase in Opportunity Funding investment for low-income and English language learner students
  • $30 million for mental health services for elementary and middle school students
  • $7 million for increases to various postsecondary scholarship programs
  • $191.7 million for school construction and renovation projects
  • $10 million for school safety projects
  • $60 million deferred maintenance, capital improvements and technology upgrades at public higher education institutions
  • $12.7 million for education initiatives in the City of Wilmington
  • $3 million increase to Wilmington Learning Collaborative

 

Economic Development

  • $25 million for Delaware Strategic Fund to provide targeted financial assistance to small businesses 
  • $10 million to expand bio-tech laboratory space
  • $10 million for the Site Readiness Fund to encourage businesses to locate and expand in Delaware
  • $5 million to the Transportation Infrastructure and Investment Fund (TIIF) to improve roads and related transportation infrastructure for business recruitment or expansion

 

Environment

  • $53.2 million in state and federal Clean Water investments
  • $20 million for Farmland Preservation and Open Space programs
  • $7.5 million in shoreline and waterway resiliency

 

State Workforce

  • $147.9 million for state wage increases and pay equity efforts, including:
    • State employee pay increases of 3 to 9 percent, with lowest wage workers receiving highest percentage increase
    • Teacher pay increases of 9 percent
    • Moving towards a $15 hourly minimum wage for merit full-time state employees
  • $143.2 million increase to state employee health benefits
  • $51 million for OPEB Trust Fund liability

 

Housing

  • $31.5 million for various housing initiatives, including: construction loans for vacant properties; incentives to market rate developers to set aside affordable rental units; assistance with construction cost increases to affordable housing rental property owners; and maintenance support to existing affordable housing units 
  • $60 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for housing
  • $10 million for capital budget spending on housing

 

Tax Relief

  •     Increase the standard deduction by 75 percent and increase the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit to 7.5 percent of the federal credit, which together will reduce revenue in fiscal 2024 by $25 million