Beshear says stimulus funds won’t offset cost of new tax breaks

This from Bluegrass Politics:

FRANKFORT — State officials are still trying to determine how much the state must cut from its budget because lawmakers approved a host of tax breaks included in a bill that was signed into law on Friday by Gov. Steve Beshear...

Beshear had been planning on trimming 2.6 percent from most state agencies, excluding Medicaid, higher education, the per-pupil spending formula for K-12 education and a handful of other programs. Now, most state agencies will take much larger cuts to offset the cost of the three new incentive programs, which take effect in the next few months.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, suggested on Wednesday that
Beshear could use more federal stimulus money to offset the cost of the incentive programs, but Beshear has no such plans, said spokesman Jay Blanton.

“We have no intention to dip further into the stimulus funds — the 45 percent set aside for the next fiscal year — to make up additional cuts,” Blanton said....