“Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration announced plans Tuesday to fill a $280 million shortfall in the current fiscal year’s budget … But those cuts will do nothing to address the additional $436 million shortfall projected for the fiscal year that begins July 1. …”
That excerpt is from a December 2014 story in the Lawrence Journal-World. Here’s one from the Topeka Capital-Journal published earlier this month:
“Kansas revenue forecasters unveiled a dark outlook on Thursday, massively increasing the projected size of the budget shortfall … Just two days after the election, state budget director Shawn Sullivan and legislative research staff outlined a forecast setting the shortfall at more than $345 million in the current fiscal year …”
Huge holes in the Kansas budget are not new, and despite what you have heard, they are not the product of a lousy farm economy and low oil prices.
Gov. Sam Brownback and his supporters like to blame the agriculture and energy sectors for the budget shortfalls that have led to cuts in programs and services.
But as the 2014 story shows, budget craters appeared even when oil and agriculture were booming.
In November 2014, for example, Kansas oil was selling for about $65 a barrel, down from $90 a barrel in March of that year. And wheat was still about $6 a bushel, down from more than $7 the year before.
That compares to oil selling for about $35 a barrel this November, and wheat sinking to $3 and under.
Even when oil and ag were doing well, Kansas couldn’t generate enough tax revenue to meet its obligations.
Then, as now, the problem was not the economy. It was the failure of state leaders to develop a sound budget.
Instead, they undermined the financial foundation of state government with reckless tax cuts. The main beneficiaries of those cuts were the wealthy, farms and more than 300,000 businesses.
After it became apparent in late 2014 that the tax cuts would leave the state more than $600 million short of its budget obligations, lawmakers raised the sales tax, which put a big hit on low-income Kansans.
State leaders also eliminated or reduced many Kansas services and programs, and they added to the state’s debt.
As it became clear in 2015 that the good times in energy and agriculture were fading, it also was clear that lower oil and farm prices would exacerbate Kansas’ budget shortages.
Instead of reacting responsibly to the downturns in agriculture and energy, however, state leaders merely started to use them to excuse their failed fiscal policies.
Those failures affect every Kansan, and will for generations.
The continuous budget crisis means less money for highway improvements; cuts to education and health care; more debt for future state taxpayers; stagnant or lower wages for state employees; and an inability to plan strategically or effectively.
The situation is especially dire because we blew the chance to take advantage of the state’s good times.
As the national and state economy started to rebound after the recession, Kansas had a chance to build up reserves and make sure its finances were rock solid.
It had a chance to fill vacancies and upgrade pay in its state prisons, state hospitals and among the ranks of its state troopers.
Instead it charted a course into financial ruin, chronically short-changing critical state institutions and programs, leaving them unable to fulfill their missions.
The governor and his staff inexplicably insist that their tax plan is working. They say their plan has revived the Kansas economy – and then they blame the poor Kansas economy for their budget disaster.
To rebound from this ongoing fiasco will require leadership from a different quarter.
Kansas lawmakers must buck Brownback on taxes and restore sanity to the state’s finances.
Lawmakers should not wait until January. Those willing to lead the way should be forging bipartisan plans now and creating alliances between the House and Senate.
It should be clear to every member of the Legislature and to every Kansan: If the budget is to be fixed, it will not be fixed by the governor, but despite him.
A Plains View 