Kansas editorials

By The Associated Press

Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Kansas newspapers:

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Nov. 2.

The Garden City Telegram, on the state budget:

With the economic forecast for Kansas still looking bleak, lawmakers face more tough choices.

The Department of Revenue recently reported that tax collections lagged nearly $15 million below expectations in totaling $400 million in October, a shortfall of 3.6 percent. Kansas already had a $67 million shortfall in tax revenues for July, August and September.

That, according to Gov. Mark Parkinson, leaves the state with no choice, unfortunately, but to consider tax hikes to maintain services.

For now, Parkinson has embraced the need to tighten spending. He vowed to make further spending cuts himself by the end of November to keep the budget balanced through June 2010, the end of the current fiscal year.

With the Legislature still several weeks from getting back to work in January, some lawmakers already are gearing up for even more cuts.

But Parkinson rightly warned of cutting so deep that it cripples agencies' ability to recover once the economy rebounds. Kansas already has seen four rounds of spending cuts and other adjustments to keep the current budget in balance, the last revisions coming in July. ...

In moving forward, lawmakers should avoid the temptation to simply cut more programs Kansans need.

It's necessary to be more creative than ever in seeking solutions that may seem radical to some, but stand the best chance of helping the state weather the economic storm. Heightened scrutiny of existing sales tax exemptions would be a step in that direction.

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Oct. 31.

Topeka Capital-Journal, on the Kansas Neurological Institute:

Families of the 150 residents at Kansas Neurological Institute fear what may become of their loved ones if Gov. Mark Parkinson follows through on a recommendation to close the facility.

They have right to be fearful, and Parkinson should listen to them very carefully before he signs his name to an order to shut down KNI.

The recommendation, by the state's Facilities Closure and Realignment Commission, is to shutter KNI and send some of its residents to Parsons State Hospital and others into community housing -- all to save money at a time when state revenues refuse to pull out of a slump that already has forced numerous rounds of budget cuts.

No one doubts that the state's budget position is precarious. It has been for some time and shows no indication things will get better anytime soon. But should the state balance its budget by jeopardizing the well-being of the most helpless among us? ...

A look at community housing suitable for KNI and PSH residents shows there is none available now, and the state has a list of 4,000 people awaiting disability services. The plan apparently is to keep the two facilities open for a year or two until the state develops a system of community based housing that can take many of the current residents.

The families of those residents, however, question the quantity and quality of the staffing that will be available in community housing, and no one has told them how the quality of care will be maintained in smaller units if the overall goal is to save money. It's a fair question, one Parkinson should give a great deal of consideration.

The residents' family members think funding cuts will equate to reductions in services and quality of care, and that's a logical assumption.

Some legislators and members of the Facilities Closure and Realignment Commission contend community housing would be a better system, one that would offer more independence than large facilities.

We don't know where they're getting their information. They certainly weren't told that by KNI residents' family members, who praise the institution, its staff and the quality of life it offers those who are unable to help themselves.

But providing that care and quality of life cost the state a lot of money, no doubt. What Parkinson must decide is how much the state will really save through the community housing approach and whether it justifies closing KNI and disrupting the lives of the severely disabled who live there and at Parsons State Hospital.

A lot of people don't think so, and say compassion should factor into the equation.

Based on the information available to the public now, we, too, come down on the side of compassion.

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Oct. 30.

Lawrence Journal-World, on a major electrical transmission line:

Kansans should appreciate the efforts of Gov. Mark Parkinson to keep plans for a major electrical transmission line on track.

One of Parkinson's first successes after taking over as governor earlier this year was to barter a settlement between two companies who were competing to build a 765-kilovolt electrical transmission line across southern Kansas. The two companies agreed to share the project with ITC Great Plains building the line from Spearville through Comanche County to Medicine Lodge and Westar building the line from Wichita to Medicine Lodge and down to the Oklahoma border, where it will can tie into other high-voltage lines.

The transmission line is a critical part of the state's ability to expand its wind power generation network. It does no good to expand wind generation if that electricity can't be moved to the areas where it is needed. That's why Parkinson and others were concerned when the Southwest Power Pool, which oversees a regional power transmission grid, didn't include the so-called "V-Plan" on its priority list. Not having the support of the SPP network would have been a serious disadvantage, perhaps even a deal-breaker, for the Kansas line.

Realizing that, Parkinson pleaded the state's case with the SPP board of directors. When that board met Tuesday, the Kansas V-plan was added to the group's list of priority projects.

... Parkinson said the high-voltage transmission line is as important to the Kansas economy as the proposed federal biosecurity lab in Manhattan or the designation of a National Cancer Center at the Kansas University Medical Center. Kansas has made enormous progress in recent months in developing its wind power potential and attracting the business and industry that will support that endeavor.

The governor's recent efforts are a reminder that economic development efforts in the state are a marathon, not a sprint. Moving the state forward requires constant attention to any details that can potentially push a project off-track. Congratulations to Parkinson for keeping this project moving forward.

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Oct. 29.

The Wichita Eagle, on the Kansas Corporation Commission:

Wichita can be irrational in thinking that its interests get short shrift in Topeka's circles of power. Unfortunately, the way the Kansas Corporation Commission came down (recently) on electric-rate parity did nothing to dispel such suspicions.

Westar Energy has been one company since the early 1990s, when Kansas Power and Light merged with Kansas Gas and Electric.

But the KCC has always let Westar charge KGE's former customers in Wichita and southern Kansas more for power than it charges KPL's former customers in northern Kansas, holding that southern customers could be saddled with costs associated with the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington.

When the bright line between the old companies' customers benefited northern Kansas, Wichita's pleas for companywide rate parity were taken less than seriously. ...

True, the KCC and Westar have been moving toward rate parity for the past few years. As the KCC order noted, it makes sense that Westar's future major investments in power plants and other infrastructure would be borne by customers statewide.

And today's parity proponents have a point in noting the contradiction of Wichita newly calling for continued disparity on fairness grounds.

It just would have been better if the KCC and Westar had embraced the fairness argument on behalf of parity a decade ago, when it could have done Wichitans and other southern Kansans some good.

The KCC was unmoved by the city of Wichita's idea that southern Westar customers are due refunds for all those years of higher rates.

At least, as Brewer argued ..., the KCC now should try to move toward rate consolidation in a way that acknowledges southern Westar customers' concerns and payment history.

If there is an inarguable point in all this, it may be one offered by a Kansas.com reader: "No matter where we live, we can expect the cost of energy to go up."

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Oct. 29.

The Hutchinson News, on schools suing the state:

Maybe Kansas public school districts are on to something after all. This idea of suing the state for what you want might catch on.

That is what some Kansas school districts did a few years back to capture more state dollars, and they are rallying the lawyers to go for it again. Thirty school districts -- including Hutchinson USD 308 and some others in the area -- belong to Schools for Fair Funding, which is building strength for another legal assault on the state.

Think it is strange that state agencies now are suing the state to increase their budgets? Nah, when you think about it, this fits right in with the way we operate in America these days.

Not only are we a litigious society, but in general -- whether on talk radio or newspaper Web site comments -- we prefer to fight for our own political position rather than try to see the other side's perspective.

So, why not sue? Everyone should start doing this!

If the K-12 education system is going to sue, certainly the higher education system should not be left out. Board of Regents, you better get your lawyers ready, because the state is, after all, cutting your budget, too -- by far more than K-12, in fact.

Never mind about the small matter of state government being in the direst financial straights probably since the Great Depression, apparently there is money for lawyers and lawsuits.

All state agencies need to be thinking about this. Everyone is getting cut, and it just isn't fair. And, after all, this is about the kids -- and the poor, the disabled, the elderly and ... (insert unfairly treated interest group here).

So, the state's welfare agency should sue. The Department of Aging should sue. ...

Maybe we could shut down the Legislature and just have the courts sort out how much all the agencies should get. That would put legislators and lobbyists out of work. But, then, think of all the jobs for lawyers and judges.

And, just remember, it's all in the name of fairness -- fair funding, you know.

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Oct. 29.

The Kansas City Star, on funding for a stadium:

Playing with taxpayer money, Kansas officials recently endorsed a generous check that extremely generous offer to the Kansas City Wizards and Cerner Corp.

Now, Gov. Mark Parkinson says the state won't sweeten a proposal to use $229.5 million in public subsidies to help build a Wizards stadium and a Cerner office complex in Wyandotte County.

"We're not willing to make an offer that is unfair or unreasonable to the taxpayers," he said. ...

Parkinson's got a good point.

The already-large public assistance for the project would prevent the state from recouping its investment in the soccer stadium for almost 20 years and for about nine years in the Cerner complex. Parkinson responsibly doesn't want those subsidies to last any longer. ...

It makes great sense to create an 18,500-seat home for professional soccer in the Village West area that already features sports, retail and entertainment destinations. Bringing 4,500 or so Cerner jobs nearby would boost traffic for existing retailers and restaurants.

The faster tax revenues are created at Village West, the faster the county and state will be able to pay off millions of dollars in bonds needed to help build the stadium and the Cerner offices. And when the bond payments end, more tax revenues will be available to provide basic public services in Kansas and Wyandotte County.

It's good to see that Parkinson while boosting the Wizards and Cerner projects understands the need to protect and serve taxpayers, too.

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