Kentucky governor says budget will include pain

By BRUCE SCHREINER

FRANKFORT, Ky.

The Senate's budget chairman signaled a willingness Thursday to restore money to help replace Kentucky's most rundown schools as senators prepared to put their imprint on a state spending plan passed by the House.

Independent Sen. Bob Leeper of Paducah said he didn't expect any changes by the Republican-led Senate to cause a fresh budget standoff with the House's Democratic majority.

"I'm hoping that the House will give our proposals due consideration, be thoughtful about it and vote as they choose -- but not do so in a knee-jerk reaction to where it came from," said Leeper, chairman of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

The House overwhelmingly passed a $17.1 billion, two-year state budget on Wednesday that would make spending cuts across much of state government.

The Senate budget committee planned to take up the budget bill Thursday evening, followed by an expected vote in the full Senate on Friday.

Lawmakers have kept an accelerated pace in a special session that opened Monday. It was caused by a deadlock between House and Senate leaders that prevented final passage of a new budget during the 60-day regular session that ended in mid-April.

Each day of the special session costs taxpayers about $63,000.

Lawmakers are trying to avoid a partial government shutdown that would occur this summer if a new budget isn't passed before the next fiscal year begins July 1.

Leeper predicted that the Senate budget panel would consider inserting language that would enable some of the state's most dilapidated schools to be replaced.

"We have the ability to do a set list of schools that everybody agrees are ... critical-need schools," he told reporters.

The House dropped a provision to provide state matching money to help replace some of those school buildings. The matching money would have gone to districts that raised a certain level of property taxes to help finance the work.

During the regular session, House Democrats wanted to issue hundreds of millions in bonds for school projects but grudgingly backed off the proposal because of Senate resistance.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, has said the more limited proposal didn't include enough money to replace all the buildings rated as being in the worst condition.

The House budget would redirect some of those matching funds to pay for a study of the system that ranks the condition of schools statewide.

Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday that he'd like to see money in the budget to help replace the most rundown schools.

"No kids ought to have to go to school in buildings that are in that condition," he said.

Meanwhile, Leeper predicted that the Senate's version would closely resemble the House's language that would give the governor the ability to furlough state employees as a way to help manage the state's budget woes.

The House budget bill largely reflects a plan by Beshear to break the budget deadlock.

Its budget bill would impose cuts of 3 1/2 percent in the first year and 4 1/2 percent in the second year on most state agencies, though some high-priority programs would take smaller cuts. The budget includes no new taxes. It would spare the state's main funding formula for elementary and secondary education.

Beshear told reporters Thursday that the budget maintains priorities on education and public safety, but said "it's going to be a real tough two years."

"There's no question that there's going to be a lot of pain associated with implementing this budget over the next two years," Beshear said.

In crafting the budget, lawmakers had to overcome a projected $1.5 billion shortfall caused by the economic downturn. Beshear said the budget he offered in January was much better.

His earlier proposal assumed about $780 million in new money from an expansion of gambling. However, lawmakers showed no willingness to allow video slot machines at Kentucky race tracks.