In response to unprecedented revenue shortfalls, Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson announced on Friday his plan to cut transportation funding throughout the state.
A total of $28 million will be transferred from the State Highway Fund to the state’s general fund to help balance the budget in the hopes of making up for a $106 million budget gap.
“I have said, time and time again, that there are no great options left to balance the budget,” Parkinson said in a statement released Friday.
But there will be a combination of cuts, transfers and adjustments to various funds in the effort to do so, according to the statement. Measures include a seatbelt legislation expected to net $10 million and a moratorium on death and disability payments in the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System.
According to Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary Deb Miller, state-funded projects planned for the rest of the year will be affected. Federal projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and those utilizing federal and local funds will continue.
There were several improvements in Leavenworth County on the list of suspended projects — an overlay on U.S. Highway 24 at Kansas Highway 16 east to the Leavenworth and Wyandotte County line; an overlay of U.S. Highway 73 from the Wyandotte and Leavenworth County line to East Gilman Road; chip seal on Kansas Highway 32 from the junction with U.S. 24 east to the Bonner Springs, Kan., city limits; and a crack seal route on Kansas Highway 192 from the Jefferson/Leavenworth County line east to the junction with U.S. 73.
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