This week's new budget forecast shows a smaller-than-expected shortfall for this fiscal year, but Beshear says a budget reduction plan is still required to balance the numbers. To do that, the governor is asking agencies to trim General Fund appropriations by nearly $78 million, or about a 3% reduction for most.
The governor's office is among those absorbing the cuts. Yet Beshear says he's receiving resistance from some offices.
"The auditor and the treasurer have just said no," the governor said. "They won't take part or do their part, even though this is all set up by state law. The other constitutional officers we have not received plan from, but we hope and expect to get one because they can meet this simply through vacancy credits."
Vacancy credits refer to jobs that have been budgeted for but won't be filled through the end of the year.
In a statement to WUKY, Auditor Allison Ball pushed back.
"The governor demanded that my office reduce its budget, even though state law says he cannot demand that of constitutional officers," she wrote. "My office is responsible for identifying waste, fraud, and abuse, and I identified five times the amount of wasteful spending that could be cut to avoid the budget shortfall entirely. If the governor would just follow our recommendations, there would be no shortfall."
Both are claims Beshear said do not erase the need to comply with the budget reduction.
In the meantime, the governor assured Kentuckians the plan to fill budget gap — which amounts to around 1% of General Fund revenue — will not result in cuts to K-12 or postsecondary education, pensions, public safety, or juvenile justice.