Navajo Nation schedules public budget hearings for FY2027 plan
Six 10 a.m. hearings will let Navajo residents put chapter projects, public safety and youth funding into the FY2027 budget record.
Residents who want a say in Navajo Nation spending will get six chances in June and July, with public hearings set to shape the Fiscal Year 2027 budget before it reaches the 25th Navajo Nation Council. Each hearing begins at 10 a.m. local time, will be livestreamed on Zoom, and will feed testimony directly into the official budget report.
The hearings are designed for more than passive listening. Speakers must register and complete a Request to Speak form, and each person gets five minutes. Public testimony and transcripts will be compiled into the FY2027 Comprehensive Budget Report, giving chapter concerns, service gaps and funding priorities a formal place in the budget process. Written comments may also be sent to Shural Notah and Tatyana Billy.
The schedule stretches across the Nation, including San Juan Chapter in Lower Waterflow, New Mexico, Casamero Lake Chapter in Prewitt, New Mexico, St. Michael’s Chapter House in St. Michaels, Arizona, Tonalea, Arizona, Goulding Lodge in Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah, and the NTUA Chinle District Office in Chinle, Arizona. Zoom information is expected to be posted on the 25th Navajo Nation Council website under the meetings and agenda tab.
The hearings land after the Budget and Finance Committee approved the FY2027 Budget Instruction Manual on April 30, a framework the Council publicized May 8. Controller Sean McCabe presented four years of audited and unaudited expenditure data from FY2022 through FY2025 to support the new planning base, which prioritizes fixed costs, external fund cash match, and major branches before unmet-needs requests are considered. The planning base includes $34,354,705 for fixed costs, $5.5 million for external fund cash match, $101,933,403 for the Executive Branch, $16,397,000 for the Legislative Branch and $14,552,000 for the Judicial Branch.
The controller’s revenue projection for FY2027 is about $301 million. After mandatory annual set-asides totaling about $83.3 million, roughly $218 million would remain for general-fund budgeting. The projection includes about $64.9 million in tax revenues, $39.6 million in coal revenues and about $84.7 million in investment income and grant-fund earnings.
The budget talks come after last year’s FY2026 hearings drew chapter officials, veterans, elders, business owners and other community members who pressed for more reliable services, less delay in spending available funds, and clearer processes for requesting support. Those same pressures are likely to return as residents push for chapter projects, public safety, road and water work, and youth programs to show up in the final FY2027 plan.
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