House Committee Chairman Rick Rand, D-Bedford, said budget drafters had "looked under every rock" to find ways to balance the budget, and "the last place we went was to business."
So the House quickly socked it to business to raise more than $300 million over two years to help balance Kentucky's next budget.
Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, said the tax changes would cause little pain and were necessary "in this time of sacrifice to allow this state to continue to move forward."
But where is the pain at the state level? Where are the reforms to address unfunded liabilities, state employee time and attendance modifications, pension reform, larger health care contributions and prevailing wage prescriptions? Don't talk about sacrifice until you look in the mirror!
Education gets a free ride. Yet, education has some serious performance flaws. When will someone look at the detail in education spending to reform a broken system? That is a big rock.
We all hear about Medicaid fraud and abuse. When does the talk stop and the action start? Another big rock.
Of course the system provides time for the Governor to address all of these things before he sends his budget to the legislature. Hmmm. Too tough to handle? Oh my, another big rock.
Time for some new glasses. Provide complete, detailed transparency on each and every rock turned over. Objective eyes can shine the light and close the deal on real reform opportunities.
2 comments:
The Kentucky budget process is broken. Part time legislators get too little time to review the Governor's proposal. This year the Governor punted the whole budget balancing act to the legislature. But it is the Governor that runs state government, has the detail on what is going on and knows where cuts should be made. The Governor didn't want to deal with it. Lack of accountability in this system will catch up when we go broke.
Maybe Rand should quit looking under all the rocks and start with the boulders.
Maybe Mr. Rand should look at what is happening to other states that couldn't find spending reductions either. How about California and New York for starters?
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