Wolff succeeds Alex Adams, the former head of the Idaho Division of Financial Management, who was recently appointed director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

The first official working day for Wolff and Adams in their new roles will be Wednesday, Wolff told parliamentarians.

But when Wolff took on her new role, one of the first pieces of information she received was that revenues at the end of the state's fiscal year were falling short of expectations.

“Probably a day or two after I was asked to take on this role, they told me, 'Well, we're going to miss (our projections) in April, and May is probably not going to be great either,'” Wolff said during Tuesday's meeting. “So there was a little bit of panic, but I think that's something we're going to prepare for and talk about … because our revenues were maybe a little below average the last two months and we're probably not going to have a surplus this year, if any.”

Republican Rep. Josh Tanner of Eagle also pointed out that year-to-date revenues have declined 10.5% compared to actual revenues for the same period in the previous fiscal year.

If Idaho finishes the fiscal year without a surplus, it would be a turnaround from recent years. In 2021, the state finished its fiscal year with a budget surplus of nearly $900 million, which was a record at the time, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. Just one year later, the state surpassed that record by finishing the 2022 fiscal year with a budget surplus of about $2 billion, setting a new record.

Although April revenues fell short of state projections, it's not surprising that the state isn't headed for another record surplus. Bolstered by previous budget surpluses, the Idaho Legislature passed a series of income tax cuts and refunds and diverted a portion of the state's sales tax revenues to education funding, authorized by passage of House Bill 1 during the 2022 special session. Each of these measures reduced the state's revenues.

Failure to achieve a budget surplus this year could result in less new money available for property tax relief. House Bill 292, which will be passed in the 2023 legislative session, would require the first $50 million of any excess cash balance to be transferred to the homeowners' property tax relief account at the end of the fiscal year.

Although the Idaho Legislature is not in session, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) is holding three days of budget meetings this week as the committee looks to take a closer look at every component of the state budget. The JFAC is an influential legislative committee that sets every component of the budget.

Without the Idaho Legislature in session, the JFAC cannot vote on or amend budgets. However, committee members spend 2.5 days in meetings at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise and the College of Western Idaho in Nampa to take an in-depth look at budgets and any developments since the Idaho Legislature adjourned in April.

The JFAC spring tour continues at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Idaho State Capitol. At 11:30 a.m., committee members will travel to the College of Western Idaho, where they will have lunch and attend sessions at the Canyon County Center and Micron Education Center. The portions of the sessions held at the Idaho State Capitol will be streamed live for free on the Idaho in Session service.