Gov. Katie Hobbs' top budget staffer is resigning just as lawmakers and the governor begin contentious negotiations over next year’s state spending plan.
The Arizona Republic first reported that Budget Director Sarah Brown will step down effective Feb. 12.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the state and work for you for the last six years and I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished under your leadership,” Brown wrote in a Jan. 29 resignation letter.
Brown has led the governor’s budget office since late 2022 and previously worked as Hobbs’ chief financial officer when Hobbs was secretary of state.
“Working for you has been a dream, but the time has come for me to give more of myself to other parts of my life,” Brown wrote.
The resignation comes at a critical moment — the governor’s office is just beginning to negotiate next year’s spending plan with the Republican lawmakers who control the state Legislature. Lawmakers must pass a budget before the end of the fiscal year on June 30 to keep basic government operations funded.
Those negotiations went down to the wire last year, with Hobbs and lawmakers scrambling to cut spending to address a projected $1.8 billion deficit. In Hobbs’ first year in office, the Democratic governor and Republican-led Legislature were able to pass a budget in May when state coffers were flush with cash — a sizable chunk of which was allocated to pet projects favored by individual lawmakers.
Now, Hobbs enters her third year of negotiations without her top budget aide.
The resignation comes a week after Hobbs’ staff presented the governor’s proposed budget for next year to lawmakers. Republicans claimed the new budget included errors and did not account for hundreds of millions of dollars in expected spending on the state’s Medicaid program in the coming years.
Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria), who leads the Arizona House committee that approves spending bills, was a fierce critic of the governor’s budget. He said he has no idea whether those issues factored into Brown’s resignation and that he takes “no joy when someone leaves or gets pushed out or gets fired.”
“We try to work with both sides of the aisle,” Livingston said. “With that said, this budget that we have is in terrible shape, the executive budget. It doesn’t add up.”
A spokesman for the governor’s office said those Republican complaints had nothing to do with Brown’s resignation.
“Absolutely not,” spokesman Christian Slater said. “Sarah served the state with distinction, working for the governor for the last six years. Running a statewide elected official’s budget office is a tough job, and Sarah wanted a break.”