Topeka — State officials said Tuesday that more budget cuts may be on the horizon when the Legislature starts its 2010 session in January.
“Our financial situation is still very challenging,” said Gov. Mark Parkinson’s budget director, Duane Goossen.
On Monday, Parkinson ordered $259 million in cuts and transfers to balance the current fiscal year’s budget. It represented the fifth round of budget cuts this year.
But lawmakers will face more shortfalls when putting together a budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
That is because the state has yet to start recovering economically; federal stimulus funding, which has been used to prop up the budget, will decline; and caseloads for human services are increasing.
Goossen said the drop-off in state tax revenues during the past two years constitutes the worst fiscal period in the state since the Great Depression.
State Rep. Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City, asked Goossen about “out of the box” strategies that agencies were implementing to cope with the shortfalls.
Goossen said state agencies have been coming up with ways to manage cuts, but he added, “We’re beyond looking for efficiencies. We are cutting things that are painful to cut.”
Kansas’ problems are similar to nearly all states across the nation, said Mike McCabe, director of the Midwestern office of the Council of State Governments.
McCabe said declines in state revenues this year have been historic.
To cope with this, states have increased taxes, made sweeping cuts, forced layoffs and furloughs and even sold state assets, including state office buildings.
“States really are pulling out all the stops,” McCabe said.
He said economic forecasts show that states won’t get back to 2008 revenue levels until 2013.
Talk of more budget cuts raised the question of whether the Legislature should consider raising more revenue.
State Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park, and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Kansans want to see government reduce expenses rather than increase taxes. Plus, he said, a tax increase could hurt job growth.
“The goal is to get out of the recession as quickly as possible,” Yoder said.
But state Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, said he believes lawmakers may be leaning toward considering removing some tax exemptions as a way to increase revenue.
“There may be room for debate on what role those exemptions play,” he said.
Comments
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Shardwurm (anonymous) says…
No problem.
Raise taxes. Raise tuition. Give teachers a $50,000 a year pay increase.
Too easy. The middle class has WAY too much excess cash. Let's take it!
twosides (anonymous) says…
Why the Capitol renovation if you can't afford employees? Is it eye candy for the legislators?
yankeevet (anonymous) says…
Pure and simple; mismanagement of funds..............
HalsteadHawk (anonymous) says…
“We’re beyond looking for efficiencies. We are cutting things that are painful to cut.”
I'm going to have to call shenanigans here. I bet if you assigned a committee of working class parents to review the budget they would be able to find a laundry list of inefficient spending in each and every department.
slaboribs (anonymous) says…
I wonder how the Regents got off so easy with only a 2 million dollar reduction this time? I'm guessing it was due to the 85.9 million taken from Federal Stimulus funds that were marked for the next fiscal year budget. So, does that mean that the Regents will get hit harder on the next round of cuts next year? Perhaps they'll see funding below 2006 levels if this $85.9 million gamble/bet doesn't pay off.
The federal government is teaching our kids that it is more important to bail out banks, real estate & auto companies, and builders than it is to adequately fund education.
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, AIG, and Citigroup should step up and give about 10 billion dollars to the states for education. It would be a great PR move on their part and they have the money. We gave it to them in the first place, in one form or another. Just Goldman Sach's bonus pool for 2009 is on pace for a 21 Billion dollar total. Your tax dollars hard at work.
yankeevet (anonymous) says…
There goes KPERS..................
TexiKan (anonymous) says…
Four straight years of declining revenues and our Legislature cut taxes for some special interest groups in each and every one of those years. Of course each of those tax cuts increased revenues and jobs and that is why we are doing so great!
avoice (anonymous) says…
Dresden: you hit the nail on the head. We need to look very closely at our return on investment when it comes to education, especially K-12. We (and most other states) are spending the vast majority of our educational resources trying to boost up kids that are not going to become the business, scientific, or even teaching leaders of our country. When we have extra cash, it's great to try to give extra to kids who need special assistance, but when the bottom 1/3 of students become our top priority, we are not appropriately serving our nation's best interests. Not everyone is college material, and never will that be the case, no matter how much money we pour into K-12 education. We need to look at the successes of other countries that separate kids by ability, give appropriate credit and compensation for careers that require non-college-related skills (i.e. - "trades"), and have realistic attitudes toward what benefit society as a whole gets from educating its future workforce. If we had our priorities straight, our brightest children would not be languishing in mediocrity and we would not be sinking in the global marketplace.
deskboy04 (anonymous) says…
Consolidate school districts.
bwebcorp (anonymous) says…
When is Kansas going to wake up and get things here that actually bring dollars to this state.
Manufacturing = non existent.
Industry = farming (lots tax exemptions or subsidized) not trying to dis farming but not supplying the state when bags of money either.
Tourism = the Legends.
MyName (anonymous) says…
@slab: I wonder how the Regents got off so easy with only a 2 million dollar reduction this time?
If I remember correctly, part of the stimulus money they got to prop up the budget was contingent on not letting the funding for higher education drop below a certain level (I think it was the funding level in '06 or something). So if they cut much more, they lose the funding.
WS_Lady (anonymous) says…
This week employees with over 20 yrs of service are being told their jobs are possibly ending just before the Holidays. Some are not old enough to retire. This means they will not be able to pay their home loans, pay utility bills, buy groceries, care for their children, get medical attention...and the list goes on. Basic survival is being taken away!
Social Security, Medicare, and KEPERS retirements are under threat now. MANY senior citizens are taking care of homeless and jobless family members. When their income is taken away who then takes care of the growing list of hard working people thrown into poverty because of bad decisions by the government, massive greed, and out of control spending.
I want to hear what the PLAN is for Kansas to house and feed their people (who by no fault of their own) are going to be "homeless." Has anyone seen this plan? Where do they all go for shelter and food. Is the plan to let them just die in the streets or in "camps" somewhere? Have any of you read about a "published" plan? If so, now is the time to share...
toe (anonymous) says…
Too much national dependency on debt is at the root of where we are today. Spend less, live better. We are in for a very long period of economic stagnation if not decline.