The state’s Office of Policy and Management (OPM) is predicting a $200,000 surplus for the 2017 budget, according to a recent letter to Comptroller Kevin Lembo.
The budget for fiscal year 2017 includes several lapse assumptions, or money that state agencies have been asked not to spend, “which will present significant management challenges for all branches of government,” OPM Secretary Ben Barnes wrote.
Barnes also wrote in his letter that the OPM estimates the balance in the budget reserve fund will total $195.3 million entering the fiscal year 2017. The OPM predicts the fund balance will total around $151.4 million at June 30, 2017.