(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Nov. 14, 2016)
This might be a good time to get the children out of the room.
Lawmakers learned last week that in January, they’re going to have to cut at least $345 million from the state budget in the remaining six months of the current fiscal year.
Once they get that chore accomplished, they’re going to have to deal with the final two budget years of the administration of Gov. Sam Brownback. The budgets are going to be built around estimates of continued shrinkage in tax receipts, $443 million less in the full fiscal year which starts July 1, 2017, and a dab of an increase, about $39 million, for the following fiscal year which nobody cares much about.