Kansas state budget (2011-2012)
| Note: This article was last updated in 2012. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances. |
The state finished the fiscal year with reserves of $466 million – more than double what it had at the end of the 2011 fiscal year.[1]
The governor signed the $13.8 billion 2012 fiscal year budget into law on May 28, 2011.[2] The budget closed a shortfall of around $500 million by reducing overall spending 6.1 percent.[3]
The budget did not raise taxes and, as written, left a surplus of $50 million.[4]
Governor's proposed budget
The Budget Division guidelines for fiscal year 2012 presumed that revenues from the sales tax increase from 5.3 percent to 6.3 percent would offset the loss of up to $438 million in one-time federal stimulus funds. Although agencies were able to propose new spending initiatives, the Budget Division also asked agencies to propose ways to trim their spending of state tax dollars by up to five percent, if necessary.[5]
Governor-elect Sam Brownback said his budget priorities, in order or importance, were Medicaid, K-12 education, higher education and public safety.[6] His priority areas accounted for 80 percent of the state budget[6]
Legislative budget
The legislature approved a $13.8 billion budget, with the Senate approving it 28-11 on May 12, 2011 and the House approving it with a 69-55 vote.on May 13, 2011. The budget closed a $500 million revenue shortfall. The plan raised the state sales tax rate from 5.3 percent to 6.3 percent in 2010 to shore up revenues. The approved budget plan called for cutting government spending by $881 million, or nearly six percent.[7]
Kansas Senate Ways and Means Committee members endorsed a proposed 2012 budget on March 17, 2011, and it was passed by the entire Senate on March 29, 2011. [8] It differed significantly from the governor's proposal and focused on cuts, reducing state spending by $535 million so that the state would end the year $7.5 million in the black.
In contrast, the budget drafted by the Kansas House followed many of the governor's proposals, but shifted $35 million in funding cuts into 2011 to end with that balance instead of zero.[9]
Both versions called for spending approximately $14 billion from all revenue sources, including $6 billion from state taxes and fees.[10]
Footnotes
- ↑ Kansas.com, "Brownback: State finances solid enough for tax cuts," July 25, 2012
- ↑ Kansas Reporter, "Brownback signs budget, makes veto changes," May 28, 2011
- ↑ Forbes, "Kan. gov. OKs $13B budget but rejects arts agency," May 28, 2011
- ↑ Kansas Legislature, "Veto message from Gov. Sam Brownback," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedprepare - ↑ 6.0 6.1 Kansas Reporter "Brownback lays out budget priorities," December 22, 2010
- ↑ Businessweek, "State Legislature approves $13.8B Kansas budget," May 13, 2011
- ↑ The Arkansas City Traveler, "Kansas Senate passes $14 billion budget with salary, school cuts," March 30, 2011
- ↑ Kansas Reporter "Kansas Senate panel proposes 2012 state budget," March 17, 2011
- ↑ Businessweek "House, Senate budget debates await Kan. lawmakers," March 28, 2011
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