Topeka ? Jobless benefits are at a record high and the pool of funds to pay them is getting dangerously low, state officials said Friday.

“We need to keep very aware of this to make sure it doesn’t become a problem,” Kansas Human Resources Secretary Jim Garner said.

But it already is a problem — one that may result in higher tax rates paid by employers into the unemployment compensation trust fund.

The Employment Security Advisory Council, which is led by Garner and includes labor, business and academic representatives, plans to make a recommendation to the Legislature before January on how to keep the trust fund solvent.

Unemployment benefits have increased from $205.2 million in fiscal year 2001 to $375.5 million in the last fiscal year, an 83 percent increase over two years.

Meanwhile, employer contributions to the unemployment trust fund have increased 25 percent during the same time period, from $171.4 million to $214.6 million.

Under current estimates, the trust fund will be depleted in 2009.

The plummeting of the trust fund mirrors the overall sour economy. Kansas ranks 23rd in the nation in the health of its fund.

And the fund would be in more trouble if it weren’t for an infusion from the federal government last year of $78 million as part of an appropriation to help states weather the recession.

In Kansas, jobless benefits last a maximum of 26 weeks. Under a law passed during the last legislative session, a portion of that $78 million from the federal government will be used to increase benefits by two weeks for unemployed people making claims during the current fiscal year, which started July 1. So far, 4,269 claims have been made for the extra two weeks, worth about $2 million.

One issue the employment council may consider is whether to recommend lawmakers increase the taxable wage base. Currently, Kansas employers are taxed on the first $8,000 of each employee’s annual earnings — a wage base that hasn’t changed since 1984.