Published: April 07, 2008 02:51 pm            

Oink, oink — 04/08/08

Legislators line up for pork despite ‘bare bones’ budget

That squealing noise you hear coming out of Frankfort is the millions of dollars in “pork barrel” projects members of the Kentucky General Assembly managed to fund despite extremely tight revenue projections that led to cuts in funding for higher education and human services.

Of course, pork barrel projects are as common in Frankfort as they are in Washington, D.C. The biennium budget typically includes a number of projects inserted for the sole reason of giving individual legislators something to brag about to the folks back home. There is nothing quite like securing money for a new baseball diamond or community center to curry favor with voters. That’s why legislators are quick to tie their vote in support of the budget to funding for a pet project.

However, in view of the “bare bones” budget approved by the General Assembly last week, one would think this would have been the ideal time legislators concerned about adequately funding essential programs would have resisted inserting money for projects that only benefit a single community. Think again.

While the budget remained relatively free of “pork barrel” projects during most of the negotiations between the House and Senate leaders, lawmakers ultimately brokered a deal that authorized millions of dollars worth of projects across the state. Without those projects, legislative leaders said so many legislators would have voted against the budget that it may not have been approved.

Those projects include $275,000 for an ATV training facility and trailheads in Knott County, $275,000 for operating and maintaining the East Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville (former Gov. Paul Patton’s money-sucking “white elephant” for his home community), $250,000 for Elkwood Golf Course, club house, parking and storage in Sturgis, $249,000 for a little league batting cage and building in Harlan County, and $5,000 for football equipment for youngsters in Bell County.

Thus, while mental health centers will have less money for the treatment of those addicted to drugs and alcohol and teachers and state employees will receive only 1 percent raises for each of the next two years, kids in Bell County are getting football helmets and a little league in Harlan is getting a batting cage. It’s all a matter of one’s priorities, of course.

We’re certain every community receiving money can justify their special project. One person’s “pork barrel” project is invariably another person’s essential project. However, when cuts are being made in essential services, it is time to delay funding for projects that are nice, but hardly essential.

The projects are not included in the budget. Instead, legislators agreed to authorize additional projects as part of a separate spending bill when they return to the Capitol on April 14. During the break, lawmakers are negotiating exactly which projects will get funded.

Thus, two things can happen to stop that squealing noise in Frankfort. Either, legislators can defeat the special projects bill, citing a lack of money, or Gov. Steve Beshear either can veto the entire bill or line-items in it after legislators have gone home for the year. We don’t see the former happening, but at the very least, the governor should veto some of the pork-barrel projects in the name of responsible use of state tax dollars.

        

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