University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, September 6, 1989
9
August tax revenue exceeds estimate
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Tax receipts coming into the state treasury are $2.9 million above the estimate in August, the Legislative Budget Committee was told yesterday.
Richard Ryan, director of the Legislative Research Department and the Legislature's top fiscal expert, told the committee the $2.9 million "excess" above the estimate in August brought the state's shortfall for the first two months of this fiscal year down to $4.2 million.
At the end of July, the first month of the new fiscal year, revenues were $7.1 million short of the estimate.
causing mild concern because financing of the state budget is dependent upon revenues coming in close to the estimates.
Ryan said the biggest turnaround in August came in sales tax collections, which were up $4 million above the estimate for the month. Sales tax revenue had fallen $3.1 million in July, but some of that shortfall was the result of taxes being collected the final days of July but not reported to the state until the first few days of August. Rvan noted.
Sales tax revenue now is $900,000 ahead of the estimate for the first two years.
tax collections continue to lag behind the estimates after two months of the fiscal year, Ryan said. He placed their shortfall at $5.4 million, with individual tax revenue off $2.1 million and corporation revenue down $3.3 million.
Individual and corporate income
For August, individual income tax collections were up $2 million and corporation revenue was down $2.8 million.
The corporation income tax shortfall was caused by the Revenue Department having to pay out $3.7 million in unexpected refunds, Ryan said.
The other major tax, the mineral severance tax, showed continued
modest growth, with August collections up another $87,000 for a two-month surplus of $260,000.
Ryan said it was premature to draw conclusions about state finances for the current fiscal year based on the two-month revenues, but September would provide a better picture because that is the month when corporations and individuals who estimate their taxes will make their first reports to the state on how much taxes they expect to pay this year.
Kansas, that would provide a wind fall to the state in tax revenue.
In response to questions from committee members, Ryan said he didn't foresee major improvement in the economy, either nationally or in
"We're not seeing anything yet that would change our opinion."
"I still think growth is going to be pretty sluggish," Ryan said. "There is growth on the plus side, but I don't think it's going to be enough to turn around our estimates, or the estimates of the people who set the budget.
Approval of Gov. Mike Hayden's spending recommendations, plus more than $50 million in additional spending by the 1989 Legislature are eroding the state treasury balance by $129 million this fiscal year.
Drug-testing plan debated in Parsons
The Associated Press
PARSONS — A drug-testing program proposed for athletes and cheerleaders is getting a second look from Parsons school officials.
Cost of the testing and insurance coverage are factors being considered as the school board prepares for another discussion of the issue at a meeting next month. And the American Civil Liberties Union has expressed concern about student rights.
"If the policy is in fact adopted, we would certainly want to be available to any student who wanted to challenge that," said Gordon Risk of Topeka, president of the ACU's Kansas affiliate.
The drug-testing plan was discussed in the spring but the board delayed action on it, wanting to check on the insurance factor.
Since then, school officials have learned that the district's insurance carrier does not want to cover the program. If the program is put into effect, a new insurance company would have to be found.
The cost for administering 300-400 drug tests a year is estimated at $7,000. A vote is scheduled Oct. 3 on a one percent budget increase approved by the board, and there is some concern that spending money for drug testing might draw criticism.
The seven-member school board has three new members since the program was considered in May. Gary Brenneck, the board president, calls the drug testing an "ambitious, worthy goal" but he's undecided right now.
Poland seeks financial assistance
The Associated Press
DUESSELDORF, West Germany — Poland's Solidarity leader, Lech Walesa, began a West German visit yesterday with a plea for Western solidarity of Poland's plan for economic reform. Poland would crumble without it.
"Our victory in Poland is like a house of cards," Walesa said during a luncheon with the board of directors of the powerful German Federation Labor Unions. "It would crumble if it were not financially ensured."
Walesa, on the first day of a five-day visit, also met with Johnannes Rau, governor of the industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
He presented Rau with a list of 16 proposed projects for West German
Walesa asks for W. German aid
companies in the Baltic port city of Gdansk, Walesa's hometown and the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union movement.
Neither Rau nor Walesa gave details about the projects.
Walesa said he was extending an invitation to West Germans to come and rebuild Poland, and urged West Germany to make a quick decision on financial assistance to the country. "The longer one waits the more expensive everything becomes," he said.
"The East bloc, which has lifted its iron Curtain, can also be attractive to them."
West Germany has built good busi
nness ties with Eastern Europe, and the United States has suggested it take the lead in the West's efforts to support East bloc reforms.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government has promised West German aid for Poland, but the two sides have been unable to agree on how much. The more conservative wing in Kohl's coalition government also wants to link the aid to Polish promises to improve the condition of ethnic Germans in Poland.
Walesa is trying to secure aid to help promote Polish reforms under the Government of Solidarity activist Tassimar Zakaria's last month as the East bloc's first
non-Communist government leader.
Upon arrival at Duesseldorf airport yesterday, Wales called for East and West to overcome economic and political barriers.
"We have the chance to work together fruitfully. From the airplane, I saw that we are indeed a united Europe, but it is bily here and there, and there are also other obstacles." Wales told reporters through an interpreter.
Relations between the two countries have been strained by recent suggestions by West Germany's conservative finance minister, Theo Waigel, that Polish lands once part of the German empire technically still belong to Germany.
"I believe that these hills, obstacles and walls can be removed," he said.
New negotiator chosen for NATO talks
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Busn is set to name James Woolsey Jr., a conservative Democrat and weapons specialist, as the new U.S. negotiator in the 23-nation talks to reduce conventional forces in Europe, an official said yesterday.
Security checks have begun on Woolsey, said the official, who spoke the condition of anonymity. Woolsey, a former police officer, job from a field of three candidates.
The other candidates were Stephen Ledogar, a career diplomat who now holds the job, and Philip Karber, vice president of the BDM Corp.
Negotiations are scheduled to resume tomorrow in Vienna between the 16 NATO nations and the seven-
nation Warsaw Pact, Ledogar, who was appointed in 1987 by President Reagan to help arrange the talks, will remain in the post until Woolsey can take over.
The process of nominating Woolsey and having him confirmed by the Senate could take several weeks.
Bush has raised expectations of an accord to be reached by the end of the year, but that now appears only a long-shot possibility.
Margaret Tutwiler, State Department spokesman, declined to assess current prospects. She said Secretary of State James A. Baker III had recommended that he stay hereday with aides in preparation for the resumption of negotiations.
Woolsey, whose nomination would require Senate approval, has a reputation for political skill and weapons expertise. As a conservative Democrat, he has close ties with Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and has the trust of defense-minded Republicans.
Woolsey, 48, was unders secretary of the Navy in the Carter administration, has served on the staffs of the National Security Council and the Senate Armed Services Committee and has worked at the Pentagon.
As an occasional adviser to the Reagan administration, Woolsey joined with Brent Scowcroft, the president's national security adviser, in recommending development of the Midgetman missile, a mobile, single-warhead, long-range nuclear weapon.
In April, Bush decided to proceed with a plan to buy and deploy 300 to 500 of the missiles on trucks and proposed that 50 MX missiles now housed in underground silos be put on rail cars.
The cost of the two programs, if Congress provides the funds, could exceed $40 billion.
The Geneva negotiations, known formally as the Conventional Force Reduction Talks, are designed to produce a treaty setting equal ceilings on NATO and Warsaw Pact tanks, artillery, armored troop carriers, aircraft, helicopters and possibly manpower.
The nomination of Woolsey initially had been expected last spring, but it then was delayed while consideration was given to Karber and Ledogar.
Union Gas KCC near agreement Rate increases by 5 percent
Terms of the agreement are expected to be presented to the commission by Friday, said KCC spokesman Sam Van Leuween. If the three-member commission approves the agreement, the hearing will be canceled.
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Corporation Commission Tuesday recessed a hearing after attorneys announced a tentative agreement had been reached that may settle Union Gas System Inc.'s request for a $4.1-million rate increase.
Details of the tentative agreement still were being worked out, Van Leeuwen said, and will not be made public until presented to the commission late in the week.
Overall, under terms of the agreement, Union would get a $2.17-million rate increase, which represents a 5.36 percent increase.
Attorneys for Union, the commission's staff and the Citizens Utility Ratepayers Board signed off on the tentative agreement, Van Leeuwen said.
The average residential customer using 10,000 cubic feet of natural gas would see a $2-a-month increase, from $38.84 to $40.84, or 5.15 percent. The customer service charge would remain $3.80 a month.
Prefilled testimony was entered into the record yesterday, then the hearing was recessed pending final review by the parties and approval of the agreement by the commission.
Union Gas, which is based in Independence, Kan., and serves 66,000 natural-gas customers in southeastern and eastern Kansas, had sought a $4.1-million increase, mainly by raising the monthly service charge to all its customers from $3.80 to $5.80, a 76-percent increase.
The KCC staff had recommended that Union receive an increase of $1.97 million, and that the monthly service charge be allowed to rise just 80 cents, to $4.60, or 20 percent.
In its application, Union Gas said needed because of increased operating and maintenance costs, plus safety-related expenses and major improvements needed on its gas distribution system.
The Associated Press
---
Student Union Activities is now accepting applications for Special Events Coordinator.
Wanna be thrilled?
Get involved...Join a committeet
The SUA Office is located on level 4 of
the Kansas Union…864-3477
Board Applications for Special Events Coordinator are due Friday, Sept. 8.
Clip Kansan Coupons
TONITE PIZZAZZ!
LADIES NITE
25c Draws
THURS. BLITZ NITE
50c Draws $2.50 Pitchers
$1.25 Bahama Mamas
SATURDAY PRE-GAME PARTY
SATURDAY PRE-GAME PARTY Open at 12 noon GREAT Drink Specials
---
NATURAL WAY
Natural Fiber Clothing & Body Care
820-820 Mass. St., Lawrence, Kansas 66044
(913) 841-1010
2nd Location Westridge Mall, Topeka
ATTENTION
ALL NEW STUDENTS* ARE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE DOCUMENTATION OF THE MANDATORY IMMUNIZATIONS WITH STUDENT HEALTH BY SEPTEMBER 15,1989.
APPROXIMATELY 2000 NEW STUDENTS HAVE FAILED TO DOCUMENT THEIR IMMUNIZATIONS WITH WATKINS HEALTH CENTER.
FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN A HOLD PLACED ON THE STUDENT'S RECORD AND THEY WILL BE UNABLE TO ENROLL FOR THE SPRING SEMESTER.
MANDATORY IMMUNIZATIONS
$ \infty $MMR (measles, mumps, rubella)
-received after 12 months of age
$ \gg $ Tetanus-Diphtheria booster within last 10 years
Polio
Polio
-basic series (usually completed prior to entry into elementary school)
IMMUNIZATIONS ARE AVAILABLE AT WATKINS HEALTH CENTER ON A WALK-IN BASIS: MONDAY FRIDAY,8 A.M.-4:30 P.M.
- Students born before 1958 are exempt.
44