Enacted Budget – Fiscal Year 2026
Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox signed a series of bills making up the state budget for fiscal 2026, which provides $30.8 billion in total funds, an increase of $924.6 million, or 3.1 percent, over the revised fiscal 2025 budget. The budget provides $11.8 billion in general fund, income tax fund, and uniform school fund (GF/ITF/USF) spending, a decrease of $818.5 million, or 6.5 percent, compared to the revised fiscal 2025 budget. This decrease is largely due to the elimination of one-time fiscal 2025 appropriations. Net general fund and income tax fund revenues are estimated at $11.5 billion in fiscal 2026 following legislative changes, a decrease of 0.5 percent from the revised fiscal 2025 forecast. Looking at reserves, total projected fiscal 2025 balances of $1.2 billion represent about 9.4 percent of combined fiscal 2025 general, income tax, and uniform school fund appropriations. Ongoing revenue exceeds ongoing commitments by $7.5 million in the budget.
Budget highlights for fiscal 2026 include priorities in education, housing, social services, and employee compensation, along with tax changes. The budget includes funding to increase the Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU) by 4.0 percent and support teacher raises of $1,000, along with support staff bonuses. The budget also invests one-time resources in career and technical education programs. In housing, the budget provides one-time funds for the First Time Homebuyer Program and allocates funding for homeless services. Ongoing funds are provided for Medicaid growth and inflation along with funds to increase Medicaid nursing home reimbursement rates. The budget provides funding to support a 2.5 percent compensation increase for state agency and higher education employees while also funding a 5.0 percent health insurance increase. Several tax cuts were included in the budget including an income tax rate cut from 4.55 percent to 4.50 percent, creation of a nonrefundable tax credit for child care centers, expansion of the nonrefundable child tax credit, expansion of the Social Security Benefits Income Tax Credit, a single sales factor apportionment of financial institutions, and small remote seller sales tax relief.