LINDSBORG- There was little positive news coming out of Bethany College’s legislative panel Wednesday night.
The state’s sagging economy and consequential budget shortfall left Sen. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, Sen. Jay Emler, R-Lindborg, and Rep. Clark Shultz, R-Lindsborg, with few positive talking points. The panel discussion, intended to provide Bethany College students, faculty and area residents with an opportunity to hear from and speak with area state lawmakers, quickly became a somber event as they described the state’s mounting revenue deficit.
“The revenues have not come in to meet the state’s obligations,” Brungardt said. “Next fiscal year things are much more dire. Revenue from taxes is already down and that will greatly impact us next year. We’re in tight times and that will dominate the session.”
The first order of business for members of both congressional houses Shultz said, will be finding a means to meet the remainder of this fiscal year’s financial obligations.
The current fiscal year will end June 30.
State statute does not allow the state to operate with a deficit, which means law makers will have to make funding cuts or find additional sources of revenue to finish out fiscal year 2009.
By the end of the current fiscal year, Emler said, the state will be in the neighborhood of $180 million below projection. If the current economic downturn continues and revenues continue to decrease, Emler said the state will face a $1 billion shortfall for fiscal year 2010.
“The focal point of the session will certainly be the budget and what we will do about that,” Shultz said.
As chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Emler said he has already asked members of the house and Senate to begin reviewing agencies’ requests for funding for 2010.
All three legislators agreed that raising the state’s sales, property or income tax is out of the question. Emler said there is a possibility that the state could raise its “sin tax” or tax on items such as cigarettes and alcohol, but that possibility is slim.
John Zender, with Disability Supports of the Great Plains, questioned the state’s method in cutting funding to organizations and agencies. Zender said his organization operates on 40 percent state funding and is concerned if the state makes substantial funding cuts.
Shultz explained that the state could take a set percentage from all entities that receive funds from the state, or it could take a larger amount from some areas to protect the funding to some systems, such as K-12 education.
Brungardt said he expects to see the per-student dollar amount given to districts by the state to decrease. That means that school districts will fewer dollars to operate with.
But Brungardt noted that for those students studying to become teachers, those cuts do not mean that future teachers will be out of job opportunities.
“There will always be a need for teachers,” Brungardt said. “You just might not get to be as choosy about where you want to go.”
Emler said legislators do look at other states for idea on how to generate revenue and balance the budget but added that there is likely to be any major changes to the state’s tax system during the upcoming legislative session.
The legislators also discussed energy production and the need for a coherent energy policy.
Emler said the state needs to consider all of its energy options and that he would like to see a policy that includes electric, coal, wind, gas and nuclear power generation.
“We need to look at all methods of energy generation,” Emler said. “We can’t move backwards. We have to be more realistic when looking at energy production.”
The state’s adoption of wind energy is a positive step Emler said, but wind turbines, which are 40 percent efficient, will not create the amount of energy the state need to operate.
Emler and Brungardt both noted that the proposed Holcomb coal plant would have been a huge boost to the state’s energy production and would have brought much needed revenue and production to the state’s western half.
“The people and legislators (from western Kansas) saw this not only as a swell idea,” Brungardt said of the proposed coal plant. “But as a last train out.”
Both Senators said they favored the plant and believed it would have been a positive move for the state and would have provided a much-needed economic boost for counties with little viable industries.
Brungardt said he believes the current economic recession will bring about more niche production, such as the manufacturing of wind turbines in the state.
“There can be a silver lining to the recession,” Brungardt said.
The legislators ended the hour-and-a-half question-and-answer session with a bit of optimism. All three law makers agreed that the current economic downturn is temporary and that the state and national economy will rebound. In the mean time, Brungardt said, the
“hard times can serves as a time for introspection.”
Lindsborg, Kan. —
