When Governor Brownback took office, the state had just ended the last fiscal year with only $876 in the State General Fund.

The Governor immediately instituted a policy of prioritizing expenditures; increasing efficiencies and studying our structural problems.  This process required some difficult choices.

Last year, the Governor saw that any fundamental solution to the state’s budget problems must include reforming taxes, Medicaid, the pension system and school finance. 

We also had to face the steep decline in federal money coming to Kansas.

In the last year, working with a committed group of Cabinet Secretaries and this Legislature, we began implementing the needed reforms.

We are pleased to present the results of this process. 

The Governor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget provides for an ending balance of $465 million, exceeding the 7.5% statutory requirement. 

This budget fully funds or increases funding for essential services while holding State General Fund expenditures below last year’s levels. 

This budget begins to address the long term structural issues that placed the state in years of fiscal peril.