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.