By Matt Bittle

DOVER — Delaware lawmakers wrapped up budget markup after just two days this week, setting the stage for the final month of the 2021 legislative session.

Legislators approved a number of aspects of Gov. John Carney’s January recommendations for the operating budget, adding roughly $60 million to that spending plan to bring the total to about $4.77 billion. There’s also a supplement containing some one-time funding that comes to $221 million, which represents a sixfold increase there.

Though the Joint Finance Committee was scheduled to meet for up to six days, it only needed two. Lawmakers breezed through the budget-markup process, aided by a glut of revenue in the form of an extra $750 million or so since the governor unveiled his budget proposal.

The extra money makes the job easier for legislators in one sense because they do not have to debate cuts to services or tax hikes, though it does increase demand for more funding from many areas.

Gov. Carney has advocated for limiting spending growth to about 4% a year, putting excess funds into one-time expenses, mostly capital infrastructure projects. The Joint Committee on Capital Improvement is set to meet toward the end of June to approve a capital budget, while JFC will convene once more next month to allocate money for nonprofits through grant-in-aid.

Among the items set to be included in the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 are a $500 pay bump for most state employees, a 1% raise for education employees, contractually mandated salary bumps for certain positions and increases for state pensioners. Additionally, the 12 members on JFC approved $1,000 bonuses for most individuals employed by the state and one-time $500 supplements for pensioners.

The bonuses, which will be distributed in November, will go to employees who are on the payroll as of both April 30 and Oct. 22 of this calendar year. Part-time and hourly workers are eligible to receive those extra payments.

The University of Delaware and Delaware State University will be earmarked lump sums to distribute as administrators there see fit, standard practice for the institutions.

“We’re allocating them money and they determine what their own pay schedules are going to be,” JFC co-chair Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, said in response to a question about why university employees do not each receive a flat sum.

Pensioners who retire before July 1, 2021, will get an extra $500, while those who left state jobs more than five years ago will be eligible for other hikes as well.

Individuals who retired from state service before July 1, 1991, will get a 3% increase, those who retired between that date and June 30, 2001, will receive an extra 2% and pensioners who retired after June 30, 2001, but before July 1, 2016, will see a 1% hike. There will be a .5% post-retirement increase rate of payroll to provide for future raises as well.

Retirees have pushed for pension increases for years, arguing they cannot keep up with growth in the cost of living without assistance from the state.

Certain high-ranking officials, such as cabinet secretaries and judges, will see salary bumps of their own as recommended by a state panel earlier this year.

Gov. Carney proposed lifting all state salaries to a minimum of $15 an hour, and to that end, the budget contains language that would begin the phase-in process, setting the floor at $26,500 annually (equivalent to about $13.60 an hour for those who work 37.5 hours a week).

Most of the increased spending compared to the governor’s plan is contained in a one-time supplement bill. Gov. Carney has for several years used a separate allocation to limit ongoing expenses by breaking certain temporary costs out from perpetual needs like Medicaid and school enrollment growth.

JFC added $185.4 million to that supplement, which in Gov. Carney’s plan totaled $35.7 million. The majority of that extra money will go to pay raises and bonuses.

Legislators made mostly minor changes to the budgets for state agencies but did include several items that depend on legislation the full General Assembly could pass over the next month. Funding for a marijuana oversight agency, school mental health services, scholarship expansions for DSU and Delaware Technical Community College, police body cameras, pension hikes for select law enforcement officers, eviction defense services, property tax breaks for disabled veterans and a program requiring a permit to buy a handgun were approved contingent on action by the legislature in regard to several bills.

The committee also set aside an extra $12.2 million for direct support professionals, who care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That sum is on top of $5 million recommended by Gov. Carney, meaning $17.2 million will go to professionals in the field.

The added funding will increase rates of pay from 68.2% to 85.2% of the benchmark in a 2019 rate rebase study. Direct support professionals have been strongly advocating for more money for years, saying they are struggling to attract and keep qualified workers. Failing to raise rates could ultimately force the state to take over those services at greater cost to taxpayers, workers in the field have emphasized.

JFC included $5 million more for child-care centers as well, sparking a debate over whether that sum is sufficient for providers.

“I’m afraid that we’re sending the message that the state is not committed to ongoing funding for child care and that they’re going to be digging themselves into a bigger hole long-term,” Sen. Laura Sturgeon, D-Woodbrook, said.

Office of Management and Budget Director Cerron Cade, in his first cycle as budget chief, disagreed. Child-care facilities have received substantial amounts of federal funding since the start of the pandemic, he said, pushing back against Sen. Sturgeon’s claim they need tens of millions of dollars more to keep their doors open.

“Once you factor in the federal dollars and the reality that the state is doing a rate increase, child-care providers have been and will be taken care of through this crisis,” he said.

Though he admitted Delaware has underfunded that area for years, Mr. Cade told JFC it cannot realistically make up the entire difference in one year.

Stimulus funding approved by Congress earlier this year freed up some money for legislators to use elsewhere. The state continues to work with Washington to learn exactly what it can spend those federal dollars on.

Lawmakers have until July 1 to pass the spending plan. The full legislature will begin meeting again on June 8.