Photo from Governor Beshear Facebook page
Governor Andy Beshear gave his first budget address Tuesday night, proposing a spending plan that includes no cuts to spending and new streams of revenue.
Calling it an ‘education first’ budget, Governor Beshear’s pan includes $2,000 across the board raises for teachers and a 1-percent increase to per-pupil SEEK funding for public school systems.
There is $18.2 million for security upgrades at public schools—the first step in funding requirements established in last year’s Senate Bill 1.
Governor Beshear says state employees would see a 1-percent pay raise in each year of the biennium and the pension systems are fully-funded.
There is funding for construction of the Interstate 69 bridge over the Ohio River and $100 million in state and federal funds to improve rural road conditions.
The governor is not proposing any spending cuts and proposed sports gambling is one of four measures says would create new revenue to make his budget work.
State Senator Whitney Westerfield of Christian County is not confident Beshear’s budget is financially doable, citing new revenue streams that haven’t been created yet and other potential issues.
Westerfield wonders about assumptions made by the governor to fully fund the pension systems, as he says he’s not sure how Beshear pulled it off without using ‘imaginary money.’
Listen to Westerfield’s entire statement below:
Watch Governor’s Budget Address below from WLKY Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/wlkynews/videos/201403474375284/