Surrounded by legislators, budget officials, and other staff in his ceremonial Legislative Hall office on Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Matt Meyer signed into law a $6.996 billion General Fund operating budget (Senate Bill 335) for the new fiscal year that began yesterday.
The new spending plan pays for the day-to-day operations of state government and is $416 million higher than the budget it replaces, an increase of 6.32%.
The top category for FY 2027 expenditures was public education. The state pays for about 70% of school operating expenses. Collectively, that will cost state taxpayers $2.518 billion, constituting 36% of the budget.
The second largest budget expenditure was the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), accounting for $1.948 billion, or nearly 28% of the total. Medicaid and other medical assistance programs, which fall under the agency’s administration, were the largest share of that total at $1.23 billion — about 18 cents of every dollar spent. Approximately a quarter of all Delawareans are enrolled in Medicaid.
Four House Republicans — State Reps. Jeff Hilovsky, Bryan Shupe, Charles Postles, and Rich Collins — did not support the passage of the operating budget. Among the reasons cited were a lack of transparency on corporate revenue, one of the state’s largest revenue streams, and the unsustainable growth of state spending in recent years.
According to the Office of the Controller General, actual General Fund expenditures have risen from $4.519 billion in Fiscal Year 2021 to $7.117 billion (projected) for the fiscal year (FY 2026) that just ended on Tuesday, an increase of $2.594 billion, or more than 57%, over that period.
