UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, March 10, 1995
5A
House may cut almost $6 million
Most of Regents budget cuts would come from money allotted to KU
By Virginia Margheim
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas is facing the losing end of a budget deal that is making its way through the Legislature.
The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday endorsed a bill that would reduce KU's budget by $3.4 million. The money is for fiscal year 1996, which begins July 1.
In Gov. Bill Graves' budget, a $5.8 million reduction of Regents universities' general operating expenses was proposed. The cuts would have been pro-rated losses spread to all Regents institutions.
However, under the budget proposed by the House committee, losses were concentrated. About $3.4 million of the proposed $6 million reduction would come from KU's budget. The committee rejected Graves' recommendation to spend tax dollars to make up tuition shortfalls.
KU clearly suffers more than other Regents institutions from the proposed budget deal, said Marlin Rein, associate University director for business and fiscal affairs.
"KU is most adversely affected by this unwillingness on the part of the committee to recognize this fee shortfall." Rein said.
Rein said that if the tuition shortfall was not replaced by money from the state's general fund, KU would face a budget reduction. The reduction would have a significant effect on KU.
State Rep. Troy Findley, D-Lawrence,
said the committee's proposal showed that the mentality of House conservatives was to cut the budget by $100 million. In making cuts, it seems as though the Regents budget is being singled out
unfairly for cuts, he said. The committee's approval of the budget showed that conservatives were intent on sticking to their guns.
Representatives from areas with Regents schools will try to prevent the cuts, Findley said. They want to keep the committee's proposed budget from passing the House and re-refer the bill to the committee. If the committee reconsidered the bill, it might restore some of the proposed cuts.
"We believe this is totally unfair," he said. The House will vote Monday on the committee's bill.
As it stands now, the bill is far from satisfactory, Findley said.
Even if the bill passes the House, the budget issue is far from resolved, Rein said.
"We've got a long way to go yet," he said.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Washington may go federal-tax-free
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Republican idea man Jack Kemp says "something radical" — like no federal taxes — is needed to save the District of Columbia from collapse.
But, except for the district's nonvoting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton — who introduced legislation to exempt the district from federal taxes — no one else in Congress seems too interested.
Under the concept, the people of Washington would still pay local taxes, which would rise considerably. But, freed of federal taxation, the citizens' overall tax burden would decline.
And that, the theory goes, would attract corporations and well-to-do taxpayers.
Right now, the city is desperate. It has lost a quarter of its population since 1960. Buildings remain boarded up. The city is firing employees. Schools will close early this spring.
Norton argues that Washingtonians deserve tax relief. Unlike other people, they must pay for services usually rendered by state government, such as Medicaid and running a penal system.
Kemp expands upon Norton's concept. He would turn the city into an enterprise zone with low property taxes and a low flat tax. He said the Republican Congress
should seize the chance "to make everyone a full participant in the American experiment."
Washingtonians now pay about $1.6 billion in federal income taxes and $750 million in local taxes.
The city gets a $700 million federal payment to make up for revenue lost on tax-exempt property and for city services.
Under the plan, Washington would lose the federal payment, but it could make up that loss by increasing local taxes, and local taxpayers and businesses would still pay less than those in neighboring jurisdictions.
Environmental position filled by student help
By Robert Allen
Kansan staff writer
Two students at the University of Kansas are doing the work of an administrator.
The environmental ombudsman's office, which has been vacant since August 1994, is staffed entirely by two students. The for-
ner environmental
ombudsman, Steve
Hamburg, left the University
to work for the
Environmental
Defense Fund. Sue
Sask — the former
associate environmental
ombudsman — left
for Yale University.
Diane Sands, a student who works in the office, said that, although students were able to continue some of the office's projects, the University needed to have an environmental ambulance.
people who call the office with new ideas.
But Sands has no choice but to turn away
Sands said that the office had continued to recycle phone books, convert lighting to fluorescent light bulbs and reclaim Freon on campus.
"I think we are suffering because we're not able to get anything new started," said Sands, a Topeka senior. "Also, some things are kind of difficult for us in here. I do know people to ask questions on campus, but I have to so all around."
who call the office with new ideas. "If it turns out to be something big, I explain to them that unfortunately there is no one here that can look into the project right away," she said.
The position has undergone restructuring since it has been vacated. In the past, the environmental ombudsman assessed environmental impacts of operations at KU and developed proposals to reduce these impacts. But Rodger Oroke, director of facilities management and overseer of the environmental ambudsm, said that the position would be re-evaluated before it was filled.
Diane Sands
Topeka senior
different functions than it was previously doing."
"What remains to be done is develop a description and identify responsibilities," he said. "I wouldn't foresee it doing much
Oroke said that no timetable had been set for filling the position. At this time, a search committee has not been formed and the search process has not been initiated.
"The whole shift has taken a little longer than we expected," he said. "Hopefully, before classes end we will have this defined."
Sands said she would be glad when a new environmental ambudsman took over.
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