Topeka — What one official called an "ugly pig contest" began Tuesday as two Senate Republican leaders outlined a proposal for solving the state's budget problems without a tax increase.
The new plan, from Senate President Dave Kerr of Hutchinson and Ways and Means Chairman Steve Morris of Hugoton, relies instead on cutting spending and using rainy-day funds. It is an alternative to the budget Gov. Bill Graves plans to submit to legislators, who convene their 2002 session Monday.
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Graves has promised to propose tax increases to avoid some cuts in government programs, but Kerr and Morris said the state shouldn't take more money from its residents when the economy is slumping.
"We think we need to provide the best budget we can craft within existing resources," Kerr said during a news conference. "The budget picture is bad, but we don't believe it is dire."
Even the governor and his staff haven't expressed much enthusiasm for the budget Graves plans to submit. They have emphasized that Kansas law requires Graves to submit a budget that relies only on existing revenue sources not the tax increases he'll propose.
State Budget Director Duane Goossen said the Kerr-Morris plan also is unattractive because it would cut spending by many state agencies.
"Trying to compare these two is like having an ugly pig contest," Goossen said. "There's a better alternative to both."
Some legislators have said Graves' better alternative tax increases is unacceptable and unlikely to pass.
Kerr and Morris would cut the general fund dollars in most state agencies' current budgets by 2 percent, then freeze those budgets for the state's 2003 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Education would suffer less, though state universities and community colleges would not receive an increase in spending promised by a 1999 law reorganizing the higher education system.
Kerr and Morris also propose to change a law that requires the state to set aside money in its general fund as a cushion against emergencies. Their change would free up $104 million in fiscal 2003.
The state must close a $426 million gap between projected revenues and spending required by Kansas and federal law for fiscal 2003. Graves has suggested that without new revenues, some programs will face crippling cuts.
The budget Graves plans to submit would decrease state aid to public schools by $158 per pupil, reduce university budgets, cut social services, cancel nine highway projects and close five minimum-security prisons for at least a year.
He and state officials blame much of the budget problems on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Washington and New York City. Among the effects of the attacks were a slump in the aircraft industry, a major employer in the Wichita area.
Kerr and Morris said the slump justified dipping into the state's general fund reserves to help solve the state's budget problems. Graves has argued that the state needs to keep more rainy day funds on hand, to avoid financial juggling when bills come due.
Morris said: "If Sept. 11 wasn't an emergency, I don't know what was."
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