FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Pension funding will be a top priority as the Republican-led Kentucky House starts crafting its own two-year state budget plan, working off the proposal submitted by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, a key lawmaker said Tuesday.
House budget committee chairman Steven Rudy predicted the House will make significant changes to the governor’s spending blueprint - a typical part of the process expected to result in a final budget by mid-April.
The House and Senate budget committees heard separate presentations Tuesday from state budget director John Hicks to start digging into Beshear’s plan in detail. After the House panel’s hearing, Rudy told reporters that the House is committed to fully funding state pension systems.
Public retirement systems continue to consume significant amounts of Kentucky’s budget as the state tries to shore up one of the country’s worst-funded pension systems.
Rudy brought up pensions again when asked about one of the governor’s hallmark proposals - to give all public school teachers a $2,000 pay raise. Beshear’s budget expects the one-time raises to cost $97.7 million in the first year of the budget cycle and $90.9 million in the next.
“The important thing … is that we fully fund the pensions first,” Rudy told reporters. “Hopefully we’ll have enough resources afterward to give salary enhancements.”
Beshear also proposed a 1% pay raise for state employees in each year of the two-year budget cycle.
In his budget plan, Beshear said the full actuarially required contribution would be paid to cover the pension costs of the largest plan for state workers and state police, amounting to an additional $120 million through 2022.
Asked about the governor’s proposed teacher pay raise, Rudy said there appears to be “a lot of interest in spreading out raises” rather than making them targeted to one group.
During the House budget committee meeting, Hicks was asked why the governor didn’t apply the pay raise to other school employees, including guidance counselors, principals and school psychologists. Hicks replied that the teacher pay raise was a priority for the governor, who campaigned on the proposal last year.
Hicks said the governor’s proposed increase in the state’s school funding formula, known as SEEK, would provide additional money that school districts could use to provide pay raises for other school employees.
Beshear’s proposed 1% increase in SEEK funding for public K-12 schools would inject about $87 million more into schools in the next two years.
Another key budget proposal by the governor would add 350 social workers in child protective services to combat abuse and neglect. The nearly 30% staffing boost would help ease elevated case loads for social workers.
Rudy said the proposal was “well meaning” but pointed to vacancies for social worker jobs.
“We may have to reevaluate that process because there’s currently plenty of openings in social workers right now,” he told reporters. “So adding more if no one’s applying is not really a solution.”
The House hopes to pass its budget plan by around the end of February or early March. Its version will go to the Senate, which will put its own imprint on the budget. House and Senate leaders will then negotiate over the final version to be sent to the governor.
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