Sports: Royals rally falls short See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Thursday, April 21, 2016
Revenue forecast blasts hole in state budget $350M less than expected through ’17 By JIM MCLEAN KHI News Service
Kansas officials got the bad news they were expecting Wednesday. After reading the economic tea leaves and noting that tax collections had trickled in short of expectations in 11 of the past 12 months, the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group reduced its projections for this budget year and the next one by $228.6 million. The problem is likely bigger than that number suggests. The amount the state expects to collect in taxes over the next two years was reduced by
nearly $350 million. But Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators are using about $120 million in revenue transfers from the Kansas Department of Transportation and other agencies to temporarily replace that lost tax revenue. Shawn Sullivan, Brownback’s budget director, said problems in three mainstays of the Kansas economy — agriculture, aircraft manufacturing and oil and gas production — are largely responsible for the gloomy forecast.
“We are facing headwinds in those three areas,” Sullivan said. But others say the income tax cuts passed in 2012 at Brownback’s urging are to blame for the state’s continuing revenue and budget problems. “The lowered revenue expectations released today are the product of failed tax policy — not a broken estimating process,” said Annie McKay, director of the Kansas Center for Economic Growth and a frequent critic of the governor’s tax policies. “More one-time ‘fixes’ will be used to inadequately support schools, health care and other areas key to a prosper-
ous future for all Kansans,” McKay said. “Unfortunately, unprecedented and unaffordable tax policy continues to wreck our state’s prospects.” Former Kansas Budget Director Duane Goossen, now senior fellow at KCEG, said if the Brownback tax cuts hadn’t passed, the state would be collecting more than $1 billion of additional tax revenue per year. “Those tax changes upended the budget,” Goossen said. Three budget-balancing plans
Brownback is proposing three options for addressing the projected shortfalls. All three would take an addition-
al $185 million from KDOT, forcing a two-year delay in all major highway projects. Two of the three plans also call for extending a $17.7 million cut in the 2016 higher education budget into 2017. In addition, option one, which Sullivan said the governor prefers, includes a controversial proposal to bond part of the money Kansas receives annually under an agreement reached in the late 1990s to settle a multistate lawsuit against the major tobacco companies. The state has used the bulk of the money, which in recent years has averaged around $52 See BUDGET | Page A5
Task force tackles suicide prevention By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
On Tuesday afternoon, Andy Brown, the executive director of the Lawrencebased Headquarters Counseling Center, paced the boards of the small stage in the theater building at Allen Community College in Iola. “How many people here have had conversations with folks in their personal circle, or with family members, about suicide?” asked Brown. Of the roughly 20 individuals in attendance — ranging from area civic leaders to interested members of the general public — about half raised their hands. SOME WAY into the program a woman in the middle row cleared her throat. “Personally,” she said, “my then 8-year-old — she’s 11 now — had mentioned suicide once. I completely freaked out. I had no idea what to do.” Brown told her that while the notion isn’t entirely unheard of in a person that young, the mother was right to take it seriously. The youngest person to die by suicide in Kansas last year, he said, was just 10. But, he continued, the state is in a posi-
Feeling the burn Marmaton Valley Elementary School second-grader Garrett Morrison scoots around a series of cones as part of a family nutrition class sponsored by Southwind Extension District family nutrition agent Terri Kretzmeier. Kretzmeier set up a Food and Field Olympics course to illustrate the amount of energy needed to burn calories from a single M&M. Students also discussed MyPlate activities and various food groups. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Andy Brown tion — when the legislature returns from break — to pass a much-needed reform, the Jason Flatt Act, which would require suicide prevention training for school district personnel. THE PLURALITY of victims, however, explained Brown — statistically speaking, at least — continue to be white men between the ages of 45 and 65 who have easy access to a firearm. Another woman in the audience remembered her brother-in-law: “He was always talking about wanting to kill himself to get away from all the pain. I didn’t know at that point in time See SUICIDE | Page A2
2015 goals for Allen County Tomorrow coming to fruition By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
LAHARPE — Last August, more than 160 residents, representing every nook and cranny within Allen County, gathered to discuss goals and challenges to improving community health. The Community Engagement Initiative brought about several priorities identified by each community. The discussions led to six primary objectives: — Improving employment and business development, particularly for Iola and Humboldt;
— Increasing public safety; — Enhancing the community’s perceptions of safe, clean and accessible recreation areas, such as parks and bike trails; — Developing “complete streets” policies throughout the county; — Increasing opportunities for physical activity; — Supporting a new regional technical education center at the old Diebolt Lumber building east of LaHarpe. NOW COMES part two — turning those objectives into reality. The inaugural Allen Coun-
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ty Tomorrow (ACT) Steering Committee meeting was Wednesday at LaHarpe City Hall, where a group of 10 was briefed on the Community Engagement Initiative background, and touched briefly on where communities go from here. Damaris Kunkler, program director at Thrive Allen County and facilitator of Wednesday’s session, said the steering committee’s mission is to help those objectives become reality. (A second session was held today for steering committee members unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting.) They expounded upon the
six objectives. Employment and business development
This topic pertains to restoring the downtown business districts in Humboldt and Iola, Kunkler explained. Some of the tasks include connecting with downtown business owners to determine which buildings are in need of repair. If necessary, volunteer group projects to restore some buildings are possible, such as has been done on a limited basis in Iola. She also urged organizers to work and assist Humboldt’s
“The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well.” — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross 75 Cents
Downtown Action Team, chambers of commerce from both Iola and Humboldt, Iola Industries, Allen Community College and Iola’s Community Involvement Task Force. Public safety
— Some of the identified goals already have been reached. Elsmore, for example, now has a storm warning system connected online with Allen County’s 911 communications center. Mildred, with the assistance of Allen County’s PubSee ACT | Page A5
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