Idaho Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin missed a state deadline to provide a written plan to avoid a budget shortfall for her office by the end of the business day Wednesday.
On April 7, Idaho Financial Management Division Administrator Alex Adams sent McGeachin an email warning that paying his salary and benefits would result in a deficit of $2,283 at the end of the current fiscal year 2022, according to public records obtained by the Idaho Capital Sun. The amount of the projected shortfall has changed over time as McGeachin lost staff and the state suspended payments to vendors.
In the same email, Adams asked McGeachin to provide a written plan to avoid a budget shortfall.
“Per Idaho Code 67-3504(1), I require you to provide a written plan to your DFM analyst no later than the close of business on April 13, 2022 on how you will ensure that expenses do not exceed credits for your office,” Adams wrote in the email.
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Adams also cited a section of Idaho law which empowers the administrator of the Financial Management Division (who is essentially the head of the state budget) to request and investigate reports on state budgets and expenditures.
The law requires McGeachin to respond.
“It is hereby made the duty of every department, officer, board, commission, or institution receiving appropriations from the Legislature to furnish on demand all information so requested by the administrator of the division,” the law states.
Adams sent McGeachin a follow-up email Wednesday morning reminding him that the report was due at 5 p.m., but McGeachin did not respond until 5 p.m., Adams told The Sun.
McGeachin is running for governor in the May 17 Republican primary election, challenging incumbent Governor Brad Little and a field of six other GOP candidates. The winner of the May 17 primary elections qualifies for the November 8 general election.
McGeachin is now working without staff and could lose salary and benefits
News of McGeachin’s projected budget deficit is not new.
The shortfall comes after a district court judge ordered McGeachin to pay the Idaho Press Club nearly $29,000 in 2021 for legal fees following a lawsuit in public records that McGeachin lost . McGeachin refused to release records tied to its 2021 education task force, and the Idaho Press Club sued for the records and won.
McGeachin said she couldn’t afford to pay legal fees out of her budget and asked the Idaho Legislature Joint Appropriations Committee to approve a request for additional funding to cover legal fees. . JFAC never resumed Request for additional funding from McGeachin.
In a report published on October 14, the Idaho Attorney General’s Office said McGeachin’s decision to stop working with the Idaho Attorney General’s Office and hire his own private attorney was the reason his actions were costing him money. money to taxpayers. State records show the state paid the Idaho Press Club $28,973.84 by check on Oct. 29, the Sun previously reported.
State officials have now warned McGeachin about tit has been missing since at least March 11, the Sun has already reported. But the projected shortfall may now cost him part of his salary and force him to pay his health insurance benefits at the end of the fiscal year, June 30.
In a March 11 email to McGeachin and his former chief of staff, Idaho Financial Management Division Deputy Administrator David Fulkerson warned that McGeachin was facing a budget shortfall that he calculated at around $22,000 at the time, the Sun previously reported.
At that time, McGeachin had two employees, including his former full-time chief of staff Jordan Watters, who offered to step down at the end of the 2022 legislative session, which would reduce payroll charges, the Sun previously reported. However, Idaho Division of Human Resources records show Watters was fired on March 22, before the session adjourned on March 31.
McGeachin no longer has any staff working the April 15 pay period, according to an April 7 email from Chief Assistant State Comptroller Joshua Whitworth to McGeachin. But even without having staff to pay and the state suspending all supplier payments to McGeachin’s office until the 2023 budget kicks off on July 1, McGeachin still faces a deficit, Whitworth wrote.
“Additionally, please note that to continue your health insurance coverage, you may need to arrange payment of the employee and employer portions of the premium for any pay period where there are insufficient funds to cover the prime,” Whitworth wrote to McGeachin in the April 7 email, which the Sun obtained.
McGeachin did not respond to a phone message the Sun left in her office on Wednesday, and she did not respond to several emails and phone messages seeking comment on her projected budget shortfall the Sun has left since the April 4.
On March 22, Whitworth emailed McGeachin to tell him that his state law and the constitutional duties of the state comptroller’s office prevent them from spending money beyond what is budgeted for. his office, the Sun previously signaled. It was then that Whitworth first mentioned that McGeachin’s salary might be withheld by the state.
