Topeka ? Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday unveiled his proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, and it includes some items of note to Lawrence.

Brownback has recommended $815,182 to fund five local state welfare offices, including the one in Lawrence.

Last year, Brownback had targeted the offices for closure, but in Lawrence and four other towns, local governments approved using local funds to keep the offices open.

Since then, many legislators have complained it isn’t fair to force local taxpayers to pay for the overhead of those offices, while other offices are funded by the state.

Brownback’s budget also includes no salary increase for state employees.

It includes $3 million for Kansas University for a program aimed at hiring “professors of the highest status internationally.”

Brownback also proposes merging the Kansas Arts Commission with the Kansas Film Commission, placing that under the Kansas Department of Commerce and providing $200,000. Last year, Brownback vetoed funding to the Kansas Arts Commission, making Kansas the first state to stop funding the arts. He came under criticism from many quarters for the move.