Topeka ? Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback isn’t ruling out pay increases for government workers despite projected budget shortfalls.

Brownback said during an interview Wednesday that he wouldn’t say yet that the state’s budget problems will prevent raises for state employees.

He said such decisions usually are made in the spring at the end of the Legislature’s annual 90-day session. He said the state’s budget picture could improve by then.

The state faces projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $700 million for the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year beginning in July. The shortfalls follow aggressive personal income tax cuts aimed at boosting the economy.

State workers did not get an across-the-board raise in the current budget, but full-time employees are receiving a $250 bonus this month.