Thank you again to everyone who took the time to respond to my Constituent Survey on the Kansas budget. I value all your opinions and assistance in forming the budget priorities for the 40th District. Here are the results!
The survey was in three parts: your budget priorities, your opinion on how to balance the budget, and what issue or policy is most important to you.
Question 1: Please rank order your top budget priorities, with 1 being the most important. I offered twelve areas: Corrections/Prisons, Disability Services, Health Care, Higher Education, Infrastructure (not roads), K-12 Education, Municipal Aid, Public Safety (EMS, police, fire), Senior Services, Transportation, Veteran Services, and Other. Based on the responses:
· The three top respondent priorities for the budget were: K-12 Education, Public Safety, and Health Care.
· The bottom three respondent priorities were: Corrections/Prisons, Municipal Aid, and Infrastructure/Transportation which were tied.
· An interesting note is that Higher Education and Veteran Services were rated fourth most important and fourth least important by an equal amount of respondents.
Question 2: Kansas faces up to a $500 million budget shortfall in the coming year. The budget has been cut over $1 billion in the last year. Do you support more spending cuts, raising taxes, raising fees, or a combination to make our budget balance? I also asked respondents to list their specific recommended spending cuts, taxes to raise, and/or fees to raise.
· 41% = Cuts, Forty-one percent of respondents recommended balancing the budget by only making further spending cuts.
· 30% = Revenues, Thirty percent of respondents recommended balancing the budget by only raising revenues (taxes and/or fees).
· 29% = Combination, Twenty-nine percent of respondents recommended balancing the budget by making a combination of cuts and revenue enhancements (taxes and/or fees).
Specific Cuts recommended by respondents who preferred further cuts to the budget:
· 26% = Government Pay, Twenty-six percent of respondents who recommended making further cuts, recommended cutting State employee pay(includes Legislators).
· 22% = K-12 Education, Twenty-two percent of respondents who recommended making further cuts, recommended cutting K-12 education, and specifically listed school administration, extracurricular activities and sports.
· 8% = Tax exemptions, Eight percent of respondents who recommended making further cuts, recommended repealing tax exemptions.
· 7% = Prisons, Seven percent of respondents who recommended making further cuts, recommended cutting any "luxuries," like cable tv, for prisoners.
· 7% = All Agencies Equally, Seven percent of respondents who recommended making further cuts, recommended an equal across the board cut for all State agencies.
· 4% = Sell State Buildings, Four percent of respondents who recommended making further cuts, recommended selling off State assets that are not being used.
· 4% = SRS to Illegals, Four percent of respondents who recommended further cuts, recommended cutting all Social and Rehabilitative Services for persons in Kansas who are in the country illegally.
· 22% = Other, Twenty-two percent of the specific recommended cuts were comprised of single responses.
Specific taxes recommended by respondents who prefer raising revenues:
· 26% = Tobacco, Twenty-six percent of respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended raising tobacco taxes.
· 22% = Sales, Twenty-two percent of respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended raising the State sales tax.
· 19% = Alcohol, Nineteen percent of the respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended raising alcoholic beverage taxes.
· 16% = Income Tax, Sixteen percent of the respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended raising the State income tax for Kansans with the highest income.
· 5% = Gaming, Five percent of the respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended raising taxes on gambling establishments.
· 4% = Gasoline, Four percent of the respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended raising the tax on gasoline.
· 2% = Pensions, Two percent of the respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended taxing pensions.
· 2% = Soda, Two percent of the respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended a tax on sugared sodas.
· 2% = Luxury Items, Two percent of the respondents who recommended raising revenues, recommended a tax on luxury items.
· 2% = Other, Two percent of the specific recommended cuts were comprised of single responses. The specific fees that respondents recommended raising were: Drivers licenses and vehicle registration, hunting and fishing licenses, and fines for traffic violations and DUI convictions.
Question 3: Aside from the budget, what issue or policy is most important to you? This question resulted in many issues. The top two, at twelve percent, were K-12 Education and Healthcare. The next in line, at ten percent, was States Rights. Everything else was below ten percent:
· 12% = K-12 Education 4% = Children's Services
· 12% = Healthcare 3% = Energy
· 10% = States Rights 3% = Environment
· 8% = Illegal Immigration 3% = Foreign Policy
· 7% = Welfare Reform 3% = Senior Services
· 6% = The Right to Life 3% = Veteran Services
· 5% = Economic Development 2% = Woman's Right to Choose
· 5% = Unemployment 2% = Tort Reform
It is a special honor to serve as your state representative. I value and need your input on the various issues facing state government. Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room 722, Docking State Office Building, Topeka, KS 66612. You can reach me at (785) 296-7668 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. Additionally, you can e-mail me at Melanie.meier@house.ks.gov. You can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org.
As always, if you no longer desire to receive updates and information from me, just let me know and I will take you off the mailing list. If you would like to see past newsletters, please visit my website at www.meier4kansas.com!
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