Topeka ? Kansas already spends too little to help disabled citizens and should not be allowed to cut programs further, a lawyer for an advocacy group and five service providers argued in court Thursday.

But a top state official said fairness dictated that all agencies be required to reduce spending by the same proportion in the current budget crisis.

The testimony came in a Shawnee County District Court hearing on an effort to block Gov. Bill Graves’ November order cutting $26.6 million from the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. The agency’s total budget for the current fiscal year is $2.1 billion.

“A lack of money does not relieve the state of its obligations,” Rodney Murrow, attorney for the plaintiffs, told Judge Frank Theis.

Murrow’s clients — five groups that serve the developmentally disabled and a statewide association called InterHab — seek a temporary restraining order blocking the state from reducing reimbursements to service providers Jan. 17.

The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, after Graves leaves office.

Thursday’s witnesses included Administration Secretary Joyce Glasscock. She rejected the advocates’ suggestion that Graves acted arbitrarily in ordering a cut of 3.9 percent in general fund money for all state agencies except the Department of Education, the judicial branch and the Legislature.

“In a macro sense, the state was spending more than it was taking in,” Glasscock testified. “It was considered an issue of fairness to apply the 3.9 percent to all agencies.”

Interhab and the five service groups filed suit in October claiming the state violated both federal law and a 1996 state law on services for the developmentally disabled. The state law says SRS must provide “adequate and reasonable funding” to groups providing community services.

In that lawsuit, which is pending, the advocates contend the state must spend another $88 million under its current budget to meet that legal standard and that the shortfall for the past seven years is at least $300 million.

Bob North, attorney for the Department of Administration, said Thursday it was too late to restore funding for SRS, because a 30-day appeal period set by state law expired Dec. 27.

The plaintiffs called SRS Secretary Janet Schalansky to the stand to explain why she cut funding for developmental disability services in light of the federal and state mandates. She said she didn’t single those programs out but spread cuts around.

Schalansky also said SRS had appealed both the cuts and the entire fiscal 2003 budget to the budget office. Both appeals were rejected because of the state’s financial situation, she said.

Checks for the third quarter of the fiscal year were issued to developmentally disabled providers on Dec. 19 — before the 30-day appeal period ended — reflecting the cuts ordered by Graves.

Besides InterHab, the plaintiffs in the case are the Kansas Elks Training Center for the Handicapped, Wichita; Training and Evaluation Center of Hutchinson; Topeka Association for Retarded Citizens; Sheltered Living of Topeka; and Tri-Valley Developmental Services of Chanute.

Brenda Maxey, chief executive officer of the Hutchinson facility, testified that the center had laid off staff and put more clients into group homes. Even before the cuts in state aid were announced, the center expected a $150,000 deficit in its $6 million budget, she said.

Still a third legal challenge to Graves’ budget cuts is pending. Cities and counties have asked the Kansas Supreme Court to overturn Graves’ decision to withhold $48 million in aid from them.