Where is the justice? Our Butler Community College Grizzlies were ranked #2 in the Nation in football, they travel to Utah to play the #1 ranked team in the nation and beat them handily on their own field and in their own snow storm. The # 3 ranked team plays the #14 team and wins. The national organization declares the winners are National Co-Champions. This must be some form of new math I am unfamiliar with. I need someone to explain this to me. What do you think?
This past week found me in Topeka for a day of Legislative Post Audit reports and some time to listen in on a special joint meeting of the Senate Ways and Means and the House Appropriations Committees. The meeting was called at the request of several of us to get a preview of the proposed budgets that have been sent to the governor.
These budgets are prepared by all the departments and by this time of the year the governor and her staff is working on the budget that will be submitted to the legislature in mid-January. Typically we never see them until the budget committees are to be briefed in mid-January on their contents and are asked for approval.
Ten agencies were selected to present their proposals with the understanding that the governor had not approved anything as yet. Some typical outcomes were reported, some increases in spending were expected but I am a little amazed at some particular facts. Most requests I heard had to deal with increased costs of existing personnel, additional or replacement vehicles, increases in fuel expenditures and overall operating expenses. Overall expenditures are expected to be around 8.1 percent, the income expected does not match.
The Department of Wildlife and Parks requested a revised FY 2008 reportable operating budget of $48.4 million, an increase of $232,764 or .05 percent above the amount approved in 2007. This department has 410 full time employees. This department provides for our state parks operations, law enforcement, and hunting and fishing regulation enforcement. As a result of the ½ price on park entrance fees last year the visitation in all our parks was up a little over 40 percent.
This year the department is requesting $2.0 million to offset revenue lost if they allow free entry into parks. You will still have to purchase camping permits and pay the daily use fee for campsites. This is an effort that should be supported locally because of the great interest and support of our reservoir.
In my post audit committee reports we heard good news about the Kansas Lottery. After a thorough audit by Delehanty Consulting, a firm that specializes in state lottery evaluations, we received high marks. Especially noteworthy was they declared our overall security of the Kansas Lottery as exceptional.” The Kansas Lottery’s security culture may set the standards for the U.S. lottery industry.”
We had presentations that included completed audits of K-12 education, reviewing issues relating to Special Education Funding, Kansas Employees Retirement System, Kansas Corporation Commission, Treasurers Office, Pooled Money Investment Board, and a review of the state’s agencies purchasing procedures to assess fraud and abuse. For copies of these reports or any others go to http://kslegislature.org/postaudit, or call 785-296-3792, emailLPA@lpa.state.ks.us.
I still think there are many issues that will come before us when the session begins next month. After talking with several legislators I hear that immigration, insurance, health care, property evaluation, duplication of services by several agencies, and the budget constraints are on the table.
The smoking ban you hear so much about may pop up, but to request the use of cigarette tax to fund anything and at the same time want to restrict where you can smoke seems counter-productive. Statistically when the price of taxes on cigarettes increases by 10% the sales drop by 8%. Not only do we lose sin tax revenue, but sales tax revenue as well. The use does not drop; users just find alternate sources for their purchases.
Dave Greene, the owner of C&J Distributing, located in El Dorado told me that St. Louis is the #1 city in the US for the sale of cigarettes. Since Missouri held their sin tax low, the flood of smokers from neighboring states flock to Missouri to make their cigarette purchases. We should at least consider this as an unintended consequence before we jump to raise these taxes.
In 2005 cigarette taxes collected amounted to $124.586 million, by 2007 we collected $123 million. During the same time the state portion of your property tax was: (05) $2,917.4 billion, and had increased to $3.325 billion in 2007. http://kslegislature/klrd/publications/taxfacts.
I will keep you posted on all happenings in Topeka during this legislative session, watch here in The El Dorado Times for my weekly articles. I consider it an honor and privilege to be your representative in Topeka, let me know what you think. 1115 Rim Rock Road El Dorado 67042, www.johngrange.net, johng@carlisleinc.net, or grange@house.state.ks.us.
Have a safe holiday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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