Editorial: Budget balk

There’s no use waiting for a magic solution, legislators. It’s time to pass a balanced budget and go home.

Putting off state budget decisions won’t make those decisions any easier.

It’s not like members couldn’t see this problem coming. When the session started in January, the state already had seen a serious decline in revenue because of income tax cuts approved three years ago, but legislative leaders said they couldn’t get serious about working on a budget until after new revenue estimates were released in April. So legislators all went home for three weeks to await the new numbers — which turned out to show an even larger revenue shortfall.

They came back to Topeka on April 29 for the so-called “wrap-up session.” The most important item on their agenda was the state budget, but during the next three weeks, legislators made almost no progress on solving the budget dilemma. On Wednesday, Senate leaders abruptly canceled a Senate debate that might have helped clarify the budget issues and sent legislators home to enjoy a four-day Memorial Day weekend. They said the revisor’s office was having trouble keeping up with drafting proposed amendments and they wanted “to get our members on the road at a decent hour today.”

Have a nice weekend, legislators, and no hurry getting back to work. Senate Republican leader Terry Bruce said the Senate probably would not meet again until Wednesday morning — “after most of our senators have returned.”

By Wednesday, the beginning of the next fiscal year will be just five weeks away, but lawmakers seem miles away from a final budget. Instead of dealing with the central cause of the revenue problem, many legislators are grasping at any proposal that will allow them to avoid changes in the income tax. Let’s put a fee on insurance purchased through the health care exchange even if that raises the cost of health insurance for everyone in the state. Let’s cancel sales tax exemptions for construction materials for school district and city building projects, raising the cost of those projects for local taxpayers. Lawmakers who won elections by pointing to the fact that their opponents had voted for a temporary sales tax increase to balance the state budget during the Great Recession now see sales tax as one of the most acceptable ways to fill the current budget gap. Higher gasoline taxes also are fine.

Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence said last week that the House left Topeka without getting any closer to an acceptable budget but that might change over the weekend when legislative leaders will continue to meet. Sen. Bruce agreed, “Sometimes you just have to start closing doors and focusing on the core issues that are practicable.”

Most Kansans don’t understand why the only “practicable” discussions about the state budget have to take place in secret. It would be refreshing to see a practicable discussion instead of the political posturing that seems to dominate the public budget debate.

But at this point, Kansans probably are willing to accept whatever process that will end this debate. Every day the session goes on costs Kansas taxpayers another $43,000, and they’re starting to question whether they are getting their money’s worth. The situation won’t get better, legislators. It’s time to approve a balanced budget and go home.