Gov. Bevin proposes $650 million in budget cuts

It finds an additional $1.1 billion for the Teachers Retirement System and state Employee Retirement system on top of the more than $600 million per year recommended for each pension fund, to shore up shortfalls.

Something that concerned a lot of people; the Kentucky Arts Council. “I urge Kentuckians to continue to monitor road conditions before leaving the house and report any price gouging activity to the Attorney General’s office”.

Bevin’s proposal now goes to the state legislature, where the House of Representatives is the only legislative chamber in the South still controlled by Democrats.

Bevin is not proposing any tax increases.

He also did not cut monies for school funding, medicaid, pension programs, and veterans affairs, to name just a few.

Rittenhouse stepped down from his post as Director of Resorts after details of a state ethics violation were made public through a Kentucky Open Records Law request filed by the Louisville Courier-Journal. Some were skeptical of Bevin’s 4.5 percent cuts in the middle of the current budget year, with House Democratic Floor Leader Rocky Adkins calling it a “tremendous challenge”, especially for state colleges and universities.

She says Bevin decided the weather situation was well-in-hand and that he would honor his commitment to speak in New Hampshire.

Bevin’s spending cuts do not touch Medicaid, the joint state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled.

“It would be hard for me to understand why we would have to cut a very small part out of the budget that, in fact, is pretty successful in a lot of rural Kentucky places”, he said.

Ditto said Bevin flew on a state-owned aircraft to New Hampshire, but said the state would be reimbursed for the political portion of the trip. We can’t afford them right now.

After Bevin’s speech, Stumbo said the governor’s plan doesn’t identify enough money to help the pension system.

The teachers retirement system says it needs an extra billion dollars over the next two years to stay afloat in the long term, while the other systems needed an extra $373 million.

He’d trim overall spending by four percent for the five months remaining in FY 2016; two-and-one-half percent each for FY 2017 and 2018. “We are going to tap into the existing talent and skills of our state workers, and take care of those who protect the Commonwealth”.