Topeka ? Those water cooler conversations in the Capitol will no longer be on the taxpayer tab.

On July 1, the start of the fiscal year, state officials will have to pay for their own water and water coolers.

The provision was put in the state budget as a way to offset an earlier proposed budget cut to the Kansas Neurological Institute.

At the Legislative Coordinating Council meeting on Wednesday, it was revealed that the total savings to the state will be about $100,000 per year. The Legislature alone gulps down $4,100 per year from the coolers, officials said.