Department of Financial Regulation presents largely level‑service FY2027 budget; salaries drive 2.9% increase

The Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) presented its FY2027 budget to the Senate Appropriations Committee, describing a roughly 2.9% increase driven primarily by salaries and benefits and no major new programs.

Commissioner Kai Sampson said the overall request is a level‑service budget with about 86% of the increase in salaries and benefits. "We're up 2.9% this year," Sampson said, and he added that the department is not proposing new programs but is focused on maintaining current services, staffing and enforcement work.

Sampson described priorities including recruiting and retention for specialized staff (actuaries, CPAs and examiners), IT modernization projects (exploratory work with AWS and licensing databases), and relaunching a financial literacy grant program funded in part from enforcement actions. He said the department intends to award grants of up to $50,000 per entity to Vermont nonprofits for consumer financial education and anti‑fraud work.

On enforcement, Sampson said the department collected roughly $2.3 million in enforcement recoveries in the cited year and that a restitution/education fund holds about $500,000 for grants and restitution payments. He also noted DFR’s recent five‑year accreditation through the NAIC and described the department’s market‑oversight functions across insurance, banking and securities.

Committee members asked about recruitment, vacancy rates and ADS fees; Sampson said DFR currently has about 10 vacancies, is recruiting and is exploring IT investments to address licensing and document management needs.

Next steps: DFR will continue its budget review with the committee; committee members thanked the commissioners and moved on to additional budget items.