Public Defense

What this part of state government paid out, by kind of spending and by the organizations paid.¹ What the agency does

$43.0M

paid out, FY26

$5.7M

of it to individuals and others, unnamed (13%)²

$1.7M

more in transfers between state accounts³

Year by year

Payments by fiscal year, not counting transfers.

$57.6M

$43.0M

Show the numbers

Year	Paid	Individuals and others	Transfers
FY27 so far	$7.2M	$605K	$295K
FY26	$43.0M	$5.7M	$1.7M
FY25	$49.3M	$5.9M	$1.6M
FY24	$57.6M	$7.0M	$1.2M
FY23	$36.4M	$4.3M	$1.2M
FY22	$32.6M	$4.4M	$1.1M
FY21	$28.1M	$4.4M	$1.1M
FY20	$28.6M	$7.0M	$791K
FY19	$25.4M	$4.9M	$928K
FY18	$22.7M	$4.9M	$873K
FY17	$28.0M	$5.9M	$853K
FY16	$21.4M	$4.3M	$803K
FY15	$25.3M	$5.2M	$811K
FY14	$22.4M	$6.3M	$681K

The biggest kinds of spending by fiscal year.

Kind	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	FY27 so far
Capitals	$16.0M	$31.6M	$15.2M	$17.1M	$4.0M
Outside Repairs/service	$4.9M	$8.5M	$9.0M	$8.0M	$580K
Utilities	$5.4M	$4.9M	$4.8M	$5.1M	$851K
Outside Services	$3.4M	$4.2M	$4.5M	$3.5M	$335K
State Aid	$2.3M	$368K	$9.0M	$2.6M	$801K
Prof & Scientific Services	$1.1M	$1.4M	$1.9M	$1.0M	$199K
Equipment-Non Inventory	$463K	$1.4M	$1.2M	$1.6M	$42K
Communications	$427K	$413K	$393K	$213K	$2,769
Facility Maintenance Supplies	$396K	$266K	$508K	$680K	$78K
Personal Services	$33K	$1.9M	$426K	$14K	$415
Equipment	$380K	$499K	$771K	$1.3M	$22K
IT Equipment & Software	$627K	$291K	$392K	$314K	$85K
Rentals	$227K	$233K	$236K	$213K	$59K
Equipment Maintenance Supplies	$142K	$123K	$163K	$178K	$61K
Out of State Travel	$52K	$961K	$138K	$22K	$11K

The 15 biggest of 36 kinds.

One total each year for payees not named here. The last column also counts transfers and other entries the state lists under RESTRICTED payees.⁴

Year	Individuals and others	Share	Listed as RESTRICTED
FY27 so far	$605K	8%	$121K
FY26	$5.7M	13%	$783K
FY25	$5.9M	12%	$594K
FY24	$7.0M	12%	$50K
FY23	$4.3M	12%	$61K
FY22	$4.4M	14%	$60K
FY21	$4.4M	16%	$61K
FY20	$7.0M	25%	$60K
FY19	$4.9M	19%	$60K
FY18	$4.9M	22%	$60K
FY17	$5.9M	21%	$65K
FY16	$4.3M	20%	$61K
FY15	$5.2M	21%	$61K
FY14	$6.3M	28%	$67K

The executive branch’s central accounting system only. It leaves out the Legislature and the courts, and spending recorded in other systems. A fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30, plus payments made in July and August for goods and services received by June 30. Refunds and voided payments count as negative amounts. ↩
Iowa Funnel names a payee only when its name shows it is an organization: a company (Inc, LLC, Corp and the like), a government, a school district, a college, a hospital, a bank, a church or another institution. Payments to everyone else are added into one total for each agency and year. Their names aren’t kept or searchable. When we can’t tell, a payee counts with individuals, so that total also holds some businesses. ↩
The state marks some entries as not a payment to an outside vendor: transfers between state accounts, payroll deductions and similar entries. They count in an agency’s total but not under any payee. ↩
The state removes names it must keep confidential under state or federal law and lists them as RESTRICTED. Among payments to vendors, they count with individuals here; most are recorded as transfers and other entries. Some payments are only recorded as totals in the state’s accounting system, such as Medicaid, IPERS pensions, unemployment benefits and tax refunds, so the people paid aren’t listed at all. ↩

Sources: State of Iowa Executive Branch Checkbook on the Iowa Data Hub: the full ledger (dataset 1021) and its yearly files; the last 90 days (1076).