Kansas Views on CURB, ‘Bank of KDOT,’ severance taxes, state hospital, school finance
CURB – Members of the Citizens’ Utility Ratepayer Board need to abandon electrifying views about dissolving or transforming the board’s mission. CURB has a long history of fighting for interests of residential and small-business utility customers. Political appointees on the board who don’t appreciate the necessity of CURB’s advocacy need to allow the governor to find someone willing to engage in that duty.
Bank of KDOT – As long as the Brownback administration uses the Kansas Department of Transportation as a source of operating money for the general fund, KDOT’s debt is the general fund’s debt. And by going into debt to pay the bills, the recklessness of state fiscal management under the Brownback administration has reached a new level.
Severance taxes – Gov. Sam Brownback has pointed to the loss of millions of dollars in severance tax revenues on oil and gas production as one reason the state is having trouble balancing its budget. He’s right to be worried, though the excessive income tax cuts he pushed through in 2012 are doing far more damage to the budget.
State hospital – State officials in charge of upgrading Osawatomie State Hospital must not be getting the message. More than a year after being notified that deficiencies at the hospital threatened to make it ineligible to receive Medicare reimbursements, the hospital has failed to make the grade. Last week federal Medicare funding was cut off for all new patients admitted to Osawatomie because of noncompliance with federal regulations. Perhaps the loss of Medicare reimbursement will finally force state officials to give these problems the attention they deserve.
School finance – Problems with school finance are nothing new in Kansas. Even pro-education lawmakers in the past struggled to make it work, as the formula required constant review and revision. They didn’t, however, blow up the existing system and replace it with something far worse – and with no long-range funding plan in mind. Such recklessness has become a hallmark of the current regime.
This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Kansas Views on CURB, ‘Bank of KDOT,’ severance taxes, state hospital, school finance."