Kansas budget director: State budget cuts could trigger federal aid cuts

TOPEKA — If Kansas lawmakers fail to pass a tax plan and the governor instead cuts the budget by 6.2 percent, that could trigger cuts to federal aid, the state’s budget director said Wednesday.

That’s because some federal funds are allocated based on the amount of state funds.

The agencies most affected by a loss of federal aid would be the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which administer the state’s Medicaid program.

“The agencies with the most federal funds at risk would be KDHE and KDADS. The majority of their budget is tied to Medicaid funds, which is funded through a 57/43 split with the federal government,” budget director Shawn Sullivan explained in an e-mail. “So, for every $1 million of SGF (state general fund) that would be reduced in the Medicaid program, there would be an additional $1.3 million of federal funds that would be reduced for a total of $2.3 million.”

Angela De Rocha, spokeswoman for KDADS, said in an e-mail that the agency could lose up to $58.5 million in federal funds “depending on how a cut would be applied across KDADS programs.”

Sara Belfry, spokeswoman for KDHE, said in e-mail that the agency stands to lose up to $56 million in federal aid, meaning that the combined hit for the two agencies would be nearly $115 million.

Sullivan told a group of Republican House members Monday evening that if the Legislature failed to pass a tax plan, the administration would be forced to make a 6.2 percent across-the-board cut to the state’s budget.

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Kansas budget director: State budget cuts could trigger federal aid cuts."