Kansas

The official estimate of Kansas revenues fell last week, as the state's Consensus Estimating Group lowered its outlook for fiscal 2012 by $21.5 million. The revenue estimate in the remainder of fiscal 2011 was also lowered by $10.2 million.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback ordered $56.5 million of spending cuts on Friday to balance the current budget after lawmakers failed to meet his deadline for resolving the revenue shortfall in fiscal 2011.

DALLAS — The Kansas House has approved a plan that resolves a revenue shortfall in fiscal 2011 by cutting state aid to local school districts and reducing salaries for some government executives.

DALLAS — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and top legislative leaders vowed last week to reform structural problems they said almost ensured expenditures would continue to exceed available revenues.

DALLAS — Kansas Gov. Sam ­Brownback delivered a proposed fiscal 2012 budget to lawmakers Thursday that would trim spending by $876.4 million.

DALLAS — Kansas tax collections totaled $489 million in December, leaving all revenues $22 million shy of official expectations for the first six months of fiscal 2011.

The Kansas Board of Regents will seek a $50 million increase in state aid to higher education in fiscal 2012 to restore some of the money lost to budget cuts over the past two years.

Two churches in Mission have filed suit in Johnson County District Court in Olathe seeking to overturn Mission's new transportation utility fee.

A group of parents in Johnson County Unified School District 512 has filed a federal suit asking that the local district be allowed to raise the property tax levy.

A special legislative committee in Kansas has recommended reconsidering two state pension reform bills next year that failed in the 2010 Legislature.

DALLAS — Kansas state tax receipts in November failed to meet forecasters’ projections by a slim margin, but still posted a significant gain over year-ago collections.

DALLAS — A statewide revolving loan program to upgrade and improve municipal water and sewer systems in Kansas will be financed with proceeds from this week’s negotiated sale of $231.2 million of revenue bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $63.2 million of Build America Bonds that a school district in Finney County, Kan., issued in mid-2009 to finance a new high school and an addition to an elementary school, according to the district’s chief financial officer.

DALLAS — Kansas’ projected expenditures will outstrip revenues by almost $500 million in fiscal 2012 under a new financial forecast released Tuesday by the official Consensus Estimating Group.

DALLAS — Kansas revenue collections posted a slight but unexpected increase in September, as all three monthly collections for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 have met or exceeded predictions.

DALLAS — Kansas general fund revenue came in 10% higher than expected in August, which Gov. Mark Parkinson called “another clear sign” the state’s economy is beginning to recover.

The Kansas chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses said last week it was "shocked and disappointed" at a city's imposition of a transportation utility fee on property owners based on how much traffic the property generates.

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, the Republican candidate for governor of Kansas, has proposed a spending freeze for state government.

The Kansas Department of Transportation will begin a $1.7 billion bond financing for the state's new transportation plan with today's negotiated sale of $325 million of taxable Build America Bonds.

DALLAS — Volume of issuance in the Southwest fell 4.9% in the first half of the year, despite support from the Build America Bond program and the return of the Permanent School Fund bond guarantee in Texas.