Krusin' the Capitol
By Nebraska State Senator Lowen Kruse
Vol. 2 #7
2002
Hi--
The budget is all the news right now, so will add to what the papers say.
Projected shortfalls will change both revenue and expense, as they predict.
Nine of us will be locked in a room starting 8 a.m. Friday morning and are
not to come out until we have a plan to present to the total legislature.
Our by-word will be to "spread the pain" without crippling services to
citizens or our schools. We will focus on cuts, but will have the latest
word from the Revenue Committee as we work. The present working plan is that
they cover $120 million and we cover $66 million.
The $50 million from cigarettes (@50 cents) is a slam-dunk. Not because it
is fair, but because we are desperate AND it will reduce the number of
teenagers who get hooked on the habit. I hope to push for $20 million from
alcohol, to help cover the over $200 million deficit we have from alcohol
abuse. Most persons do not abuse, but my thought is to sensitize them to
this tremendous deficit -- more than the total deficit we are working with --
so that public consensus (and talk!) will turn to opposing the abuse of
alcohol. The talk would make a tremendous difference in future expenses and
so far we simply do not have it. Anywhere.
The governor wants to delay payments to businesses which have earned tax
credits from their investments in the economy. We would not take it away
from them, as the governor proposes, but tax the credits by 20% and return
that to them in a few years. It is a part of "spread the pain."
He also proposes reducing school aid, which would reduce local budgets by
about 1 1/2 per cent. (ALL of these proposals are for next year, which
starts July 1.) I do not want to do that, as it is a shift to property tax,
which is our highest tax. The governor would keep the levy limit, to force
local economies, but it ends up as property tax. (Local tax aid is 36% of
the state budget, so hard to ignore.)
How did we get in a deficit position? That is easy, though no one answer
stands by itself. We over-promised the surplus from a couple years ago.
There were extra $$$ so instead of a rebate, which is always messy, or adding
to the rainy day fund, which was already large, the legislature decided to
add to aid to local schools, to reduce the increases in property taxes. Also
$$$ to community colleges, which does the same.
We could take back the community colleges "bonus" but could not change the
school aid pace without a lot of chaos. We could not keep up the pace.
How did taxes rise? That is a different question, with a different answer.
Basic budgets of state agencies have had very modest increases. School aid
caused a huge increase in expense, but another factor is more important and
we did not promise it nor can we fail to pay it. The public has decided in
the last two decades that the government should pay for children with special
needs. That is quite understandable and even the tax watchers do not try to
argue otherwise, but that is VERY expensive.
Thirty years ago, if a child was born disabled we told the parents, "You have
a problem." Now we say, "We have a problem." This was always in the
Nebraska constitution, but we ignored it. Every child has the right to a
free education until the age of 21. Wow. We are still new at it and frankly
are trying to figure out what that means and how to do it efficiently.
Special education is $150 million next year, more than the deficit all by
itself. That figure does not include medicaid payments for the health of
many of these children/adults, 7,000 of whom are wards of the state. They
are our children and we have all the bills. We are not able to cut a single
dollar from special needs costs for the coming year. Be assured we are
taking an intense look at the guidelines.
That is why taxes go up. Tax watchers are a helpful lot, generally, but they
need to understand that if we took an unreal 20% cut across the board on all
state agencies (except corrections and human services where cuts are only
delays) and include a 20% cut for the governor, attorney general, etc., plus
the legislature -- nearly all the functions of state government -- we would
only cut in total 1 cent of every dollar.
Are we feeling the pain yet?
Lowen
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