Kansas

Kansas collected $12.7 million less revenue than anticipated in October, continuing a trend that has forced the state to reduce spending.

Kansas revenues ran $45 million below projections in September, continuing a trend of shortfalls expected to cause more fiscal belt tightening. The latest announcement comes as Democrats are targeting Brownback’s policies one month ahead of the general election.

State and local governments and showing a wide variety of impacts from the collapse of the oil market that began two years ago, ratings analysts say.

Kansas revenues continued to fall below forecast in August, running 2.3% or $10.2 million short of expectations.

Issuers in the Southwest sold $42.85 billion of bonds in the first half of 2016, only 0.6% behind the record pace of the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Experts in Kansas government say the defeats of many of Gov. Sam Brownback’s allies in the GOP primary showed that moderates have had enough of his policies of cutting taxes while reducing spending on state services.

Kansas started its fiscal year $12.8 million below the revenue forecast for July, continuing a trend that factored into a credit downgrade from Standard & Poor's.

Kansas absorbed a downgrade when S&P Global Ratings dropped the state’s issuer credit rating one notch to AA-minus.

Kansas is still looking for the winning formula, four years after Gov. Sam Brownback started his experiment with income and business tax cuts. The 2016 fiscal year ended June 30 with the state borrowing $900 million, raising $38 million to avoid closing public schools and again falling short of revenue estimates.

Faced with a state Supreme Court threat to block distribution of funds to Kansas public schools, Gov. Sam Brownback called a special session of the legislature to provide a funding solution.