Some recent good news popped up recently in that the state’s revenues showed a slight increase above the estimates. The extra $7 million or so came from individual and corporate income tax payments. This is actually a good sign that people are working and some businesses are making money.
The state sales tax revenue is down slightly from the estimates and is 6% below the sales figures in 2008. The last two statements indicate that people are making some money; they just are not buying as many things or spending as much as they did last year.
Total revenues are down 8.2% or $64.7 million from the same period as last year. Remember our revenues are down slightly by the $32 million from income tax refunds the state administration delayed so we could end the fiscal year with some money in the bank.
The figures in September should help prove a positive trend or an anomaly. These figures will include the back to school purchases and other normal end of summer expenditures.
Some analysts suggest the recession has started to bottom out but fear that many who have changed their spending habits will choose to remain frugal and not be as free with discretionary spending. This would not be good news for those with discretionary things for sale.
My latest trip to Topeka for the Legislative Post Audit Committee (LPAC) was very informative as always. We heard audit reports on the SRS children in need of care and the State Universities efficiency of operations. These reports are provided to the legislature and the public and are a very in-depth look at the operation of the agencies involved.
The SRS issue mainly focused on the flap created back in March of 2008 when SRS Secretary Don Jordan made a comment during a meeting with an advocacy group for parents whose children had been removed from their homes, while indicating that in Sedgwick County “oftentimes we end up writing things because it’s what our social workers get bullied by the District Attorney’s Office into writing”.
Secretary Jordan has retracted his statement and offered his apology for his misstatement and that he was sorry he used the term “bullied”. During his testimony before the committee he again issued an apology and I feel he is quite sincere.
Our audit focused on 3 questions:
1. Have social workers been unduly influenced by attorneys to include information in applications for petition that is contrary to what their investigations showed?
2. Are social workers that handle child-in-need-of-care cases qualified, and do they have sufficient training to work effectively with the attorneys and the courts?
3. Are there sufficient numbers of social; workers to handle the caseloads?
The FY 2008 budget for SRS and its 3,749 statewide employees is reported at $1.5 Billion. The cooperation between SRS and the Sedgwick County DA was reported as greatly improved and as with all these types of things many would believe major problems still exist within the system.
All full reports are available from Legislative Division of Post Audit, 800 Southwest Jackson Street,
Suite 1200 Topeka Ks. 66612-2212, 1-785-296-3792, e-mail lpa@lpa.ks.gov, or see their website, www.kslegislature.org/postaudit.
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