Message from the Governor

Dear friends,

How we respond to the critical challenges that face us could shape our state's future for generations. In the short term, we will tackle the historic revenue shortfalls and budget deficits we inherited by embracing the hard choices and taking an honest assessment of how and where we allocate our resources. We can only ensure our long-term prosperity by getting Delaware's economy moving in the right direction and getting more Delawareans back to work.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), more commonly called "the stimulus package," offers Delaware some assistance to help us close the largest budget shortfall in state history. As you can see from the graphs on the previous page, it provides us some useful help with Medicaid and other services. However, most of the money from the stimulus package comes with specific federal mandates for one-time expenditures. While the money will be put to good use to help us fund one-time projects that will create jobs, it will only address a fraction of the huge shortfall we face in the fiscal 2010 operating budget.

Where this bill becomes critical is in its ability to help get thousands of Delawareans working on projects that matter. We have worked, and will work, across each agency to maximize our ability to use ARRA funding to create jobs. It will help us with our roads, with public safety, with energy conservation and our schools.

We have worked, and will work, across agencies to be open and accountable with how these resources are used. We will use this site to track its progress and will use it to make announcements as the federal stimulus priorities become more clear.

We look forward to sending you updates in the future and to working with you to get Delaware's economy moving forward faster.

Best regards,

Jack Markell