By the Associated Press, March 17, 2011
TOPEKA, Kan. -- A Kansas Senate committee endorsed a proposed state budget on Thursday that is similar to a spending plan outlined by Gov. Sam Brownback but that calls for a slightly less severe reduction in base aid to the state's public schools.
The Ways and Means Committee unanimously approved its $14 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, a plan that would eliminate a projected $493 million shortfall without raising taxes.
But the state still wouldn't have much of a cushion should revenues be less robust than anticipated. The spending plan drafted by the committee would leave less than $8 million in cash reserves at the end of June 2012.
The committee's endorsement of the budget sends the measure to the Senate, and its leaders hope to have a debate on it next week. The House Appropriations Committee is drafting its own proposed budget.
"We did the best we could with what we had," said Senate committee Chairwoman Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican. "I think people will - eventually, after we get out of here - see that significant cuts were made."
Last year, lawmakers increased the state's sales tax to avoid the kind of reductions they're considering this year, particularly for public schools. But the state still faced a budget shortfall going forward because of the loss of federal economic stimulus dollars, and Brownback and many of the Republicans who control both chambers of the Legislature have promised not to increase taxes.