TOPEKA – Many years of over spending in the Kansas Legislature have finally caught up with our state government, said the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity-Kansas.

The State Finance Council today decided to borrow $250 million from other state accounts to help state school districts meet their payrolls.

“Today was the first of many days of reckoning for years of over spending,” said AFP-Kansas state director Alan Cobb. “The political gamesmanship being played by the Governor is unfortunate but not surprising. She has the authority and ability to shore up the budget but refuses to do so, and wants the 2009 Legislature to do the heavy political lifting.

“While both the Governor and legislators brought the state to this financial tipping point, the Governor can – and should – do something about it without delay.

“As Senator Derek Schmidt noted during the meeting of the State Finance Council, it is far from clear the state has the legal authority to issue the certificate of indebtedness, as the official ending balance for this budget year is below zero.

“Essentially the state is borrowing more money despite logging a negative ending balance. Continually borrowing from our own accounts is not sustainable at the family level, and it certainly can’t be supported long-term at the state level,” Cobb said.

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