Thu, Nov 26 2009
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No. No withholding. Schools get a pretty good break in Missouri when they are required by the Constitution to get 25 percent of state revenues and we’re giving them 31 or 32 percent. And reassessment has probably helped school districts more than hurt them.
The House and Senate have hired economists to get better budget projections. I don’t think it’s in the best interest to withhold money. I don’t mind holding things flat from year to year, that’s what we did in 1991 at Joplin City Hall. But I don’t think you’re gong to see anything like that in this budget year. Do you think there’s going to be a lot of people who come to the table wanting a bigger piece of the pie? Allen (Icet) said he has requests for tens of millions of dollars for everything from education, higher education to funding highways. It’s just all kinds of requests. What about restoring the cuts made in Medicaid several years ago? I’m not sure I agree with your question. If you said ‘do we need to look to make sure people that are eligible get Medicaid benefits,’ we did that. And frankly, if we didn’t do anything else we would have solved most of the problems. Are you asking me if we need to restore benefits to people who don’t qualify? I don’t think we need to do that, or to restore benefits for people coming over from Arkansas. Medicaid is to be a safety net for those who can’t help themselves and those on disability. We recognize we did we make some mistakes with people falling through the cracks. But every time you get government in the middle of something, you can’t fix everything, and that’s why I’m an advocate for local controls. There are some things we can do with the disabled, wheelchairs and batteries. We’re going to do that when we find substantive issues, places where we’ve made a mistake. But are we just going to put people back on the program? I don’t know how much more we’ve spent on Medicaid this year than last year. Where do you stand on a transportation sales tax? I’ve been an opponent of tax increases; the only tax I ever supported was a sewer tax. I didn’t support the Missouri Department of Transportation Tax a few years ago, but I think if they keep up their effort on the Smooth and Safe initiative, I would support them. In 2009, I am willing to send a good package based on a higher sales tax or some fees. You can look forward to me sending that to the voters and I would speak on it as an advocate. I think most departments, whether it’s mental health or social services, are doing a pretty good job. We’ve trimmed employees by 3,000 or 4,000, but I think departments for the state are doing a pretty good job. 
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