DOVER— Department of Transportation Secretary Nicole Majeski proposed a $425 million fiscal year 2025 operating budget to members of the Joint Finance Committee on Wednesday, marking an 8.3% year-over-year increase.
The $32.5 million increase is due to this year’s expiration of Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration stimulus funds used to pay the agency’s debt service and Delaware Transit Corporation subsidy for the last four years.
Ms. Majeski noted that, those funds came as a result of the pandemic, but they expire at the end of fiscal year 2024.
The agency typically proposes increases of about 4%, the secretary said, but without federal assistance, $27.5 million will be needed to cover the two factors, as well as one-time adjustments, in the next fiscal year.
“We no longer have that stimulus money and we have to restore what those payments would be because we no longer have that offset. So, that is the main reason for the increase and our budget being so high,” she said.