Kansas faces budget shortfalls in both the current and coming fiscal years. Gov. Sam Brownback will present lawmakers with a proposal for closing the budget gap. As Stephen Koranda reports, the governor has dropped a hint on what his plan will include.
Brownback has been short on details recently when it comes to his Kansas spending plan. There’s been talk in the Statehouse of spending cuts, tax increases and finding revenue in other ways. Brownback said in an interview that he’ll use more than one strategy.
“We’ll do a mixture of both cuts and revenues. The size of the hole that we’re looking at, I think is one where you’re just going to have to do some mixture," he said. "And none of it’s going to be something that people are going to be particularly excited about. At the end of the day, you've got to come up with a balanced budget, and we will."
In the current fiscal year, Kansas faces a budget deficit of nearly $350 million. That’s almost 6 percent of the state general fund portion of the budget.
The shortfall in the next fiscal year approaches $600 million.
