A Kansas House GOP plan would cut spending and create more than $300 million in revenues.
The plan announced Thursday by GOP leaders of the House Appropriations Committee has no measures to increase taxes. Instead, it proposes to not replace federal stimulus money for education and borrows $50 million from the state highway fund.
Key portions of the proposal include not implementing Gov. Mark Parkinson’s tax increases and freezing state spending at current levels for public education.
“We feel, giving the current state of the economy, that raising taxes at this time would not be prudent and would create further job loss,” said Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “It would not be a responsible way to handing the budget crisis.”
The plan also calls for increasing the public safety budget to reduce Kansas Bureau of Investigation DNA backlog and reduce the physically and developmentally disabled waiting lists. The measure also targets spending reductions instead of across-the-board cuts. GOP lawmakers claim that larger expenditures in the budget are able to absorb cost-saving measures more efficiently.
“Our budget is better for higher education because we add revenue for universities,” Yoder said. “It is better for the disabled, law enforcement and a variety of other portions of the budget.”
That includes cutting all other state agency spending by 1 percent, taking away all overtime unless authorized and closing all state offices at 3 p.m. on Fridays.
“House Republicans resisted adding new government spending in the 2011 budget. We have listened to Kansas taxpayers and will not allow the growth of government to continue unchecked,” said House Majority Leader Ray Merrick. “Adding to the budget when revenues are down and not sufficient to support the current spending level is irresponsible. This has never been a revenue problem; this budget crisis was caused because state government could not control spending.”
Republicans in the Senate have also proposed a spending plan which is close to what Parkinson has proposed, leaving over $300 million to be accounted for in tax increases.
House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, said that the Senate’s plan does not work with tax increases.
“The Senate’s inclination to fill 3/4 of the budget hole with taxes is flawed and, contrary to the mantra of the Democrats; the answer to a spending problem is not taxes, taxes, and more taxes,” O’Neal said.
Parkinson said he was happy that House Republican leadership presented a budget plan, but said additional cuts are not possible.
“The cuts now proposed by House Republican leadership are, in a word, irresponsible,” Parkinson said. “They are proposing that we cut schools, cut services for the vulnerable and cut programs which directly impact public safety. While I appreciate their willingness to put forward a plan, it is the wrong plan for Kansas.”
Yoder said that the House plan would also create a $300 million ending balance at the end of the year.
“The public expects us to tighten our belts, just like families and businesses have had to do,” Yoder said.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140
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