http://mycn2.com/politics/more-2-cuts-to-certain-agencies-needed-to-ky-balance-budget-official-tells-lawmakers

Publication Date: November 29, 2011

Author: Don Weber

More 2% cuts to certain agencies needed to KY balance budget, official tells lawmakers

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration is implementing another round of 2 percent cuts to many state agencies to help cover a $189.9 million budget gap in the current fiscal year.

Mary Lassiter, Beshear’s budget director, told lawmakers Tuesday afternoon that the latest round of cuts would come on top of recurring 1.5 percent cuts to the agencies.

“We will balance our budget,” Lassiter said.

Agencies were first warned of the cuts in May, Lassiter said. She said after the meeting that the cuts have increased the burden on the remaining employees in those departments.

But key areas would be except from the cuts, including:

  • The SEEK formula for schools
  • The Medicaid program covering health care for more than 800,000 poor and disabled
  • The Corrections Department
  • Prosecutors and public advocates
  • Public universities and financial aid
  • Behavioral health programs
  • Juvenile justice
  • Executive Branch Ethics Commission
  • Board of Elections
  • The Kentucky Horse Park Commission

Lassiter told the joint committee of appropriations and revenue that the administration wants to use $75.5 million from the more than $100 million in Kentucky’s rainy day fund.

The additional $114 million to cover the rest of the gap would come from spending reductions:

  • $27.5 million from reductions of appointed government personnel and 1.5 percent cuts
  • $57.9 million in savings from debt payments
  • $29 million from the new round of 2 percent cuts

Unlike last year, rank-and-file state employees won’t be forced to take unpaid furlough days, Lassiter said.

That $189.9 million gap was initially expected to be covered — at least partially — through savings realized by companies hired by the state to take over the management of some functions in Medicaid.

Some lawmakers, including Senate budget chairman Bob Leeper, asked Lassiter for more information about the proposed cuts.

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About Don Weber

Don Weber joined cn|2 when it launched back in May 2010 and soon became a reporter for Pure Politics. He is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University and has spent many years covering everything from politics to sports. Don says he loves meeting new people everyday as part of his job and also enjoys the fact that no two days are the same when he comes to work.

Comments

  • Bruce Layne wrote on November 30, 2011 09:56 AM :

    Kentuckians need to understand that when politicians talk about balancing the state budget, they aren’t talking about balancing a budget in the way most of us balance a budget. Government changes the basic meaning of common words to suit their political objectives. The state’s balanced budgets are not balanced in any manner that voters would recognize. The part they don’t discuss in the discussions about the budget is bond debt. Our “balanced budgets” are all predicated on this big lie. That’s how the politicians side step the legal requirement for them to balance our budget. Our state budget is only balanced if we exclude the money they borrow every year. That’s how we have “balanced budgets” and Kentucky is almost $11 billion in debt, with another $30-$40 billion in unfunded (but mandated) future pension expenditures.

    Of course, when our legislators borrow money, they’re forging our names on the dotted line. They’re incurring this debt on our behalf. We’re responsible for that debt, and so are our children. We’re stealing money from our children, who will bear the burden of our politician’s unwillingness to truly balance the budget. It’s immoral.

    Debt eventually owns the debtor, and Kentucky’s bond debt is no different. The year before the US bond rating was downgraded, Kentucky’s bond rating was also downgraded, but that wasn’t widely publicized. Because of our mounting debt, we’re becoming a bad credit risk, and now we’re forced to pay more to borrow money. As the interest rates increase, we need to borrow even more money to pay the interest to the Wall Street banksters, and there is even less money for roads, schools, etc. Our legislators have no choice but to increase our taxes to pay the big banks on Wall Street. This is the state version of the classic debt trap known to anyone suffering the stress of not being able to make enough money to pay the interest on their maxed out credit cards. It’s sad to see 20 year old college students unknowingly caught in this debt trap, but it’s pathetic and unforgivable for our state legislature to do this to us and lie to us about it.

    Both parties are doing this. It’s called “bipartisanship”.

    Want to make a Kentucky legislator squirm? Ask how much bond debt their “balanced budget” foisted upon us. Better yet, do the research (they don’t make that easy) and ask them about the actual amount of interest that Kentucky paid, and the actual amount of bond debt that was rolled over from last year, and the actual amount of new bond debt that was added in this year’s budget. Ask them how we can have a balanced budget every year, yet Kentucky continues to slide further into debt. We now have the highest debt to GDP ratio of any state.

    Source: USDebtClock.org

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