TOPEKA – The free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity-Kansas has released to legislators and to the media a model state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

“Kansas legislators are working to close a budget gap of $400 million for the next fiscal year,” said AFP-Kansas state director Derrick Sontag. “The latest AFP Commonsense Budget Proposal will provide a roadmap for legislators seeking to make Kansas government more efficient – and less costly – without turning to Kansas taxpayers.”

AFP-Kansas printed its first model state budget prior to the 2009 fiscal year, encouraging legislators to closely examine the state budget from year to year, and to force agencies to justify spending in order to ensure Kansas taxpayer dollars are being spent appropriately.

“Rather than just asking legislators to look for ways to reduce state spending, we are providing a solution, a roadmap toward fiscally responsible spending in Kansas,” Sontag said. “This budget highlights areas where waste still exists in the budget and suggests how to streamline our state government in the long run.”

The FY 2011 Commonsense Budget Proposal reduces the State General Fund to $5.3 billion and leaves an ending balance of $187 million.

Read the model state budget.

NOTE: Steven J. Anderson, CPA, is licensed in Kansas and Oklahoma. He received an undergraduate degree in accounting and finance at Fort Hays State University, and earned an M.B.A. at the University of Central Oklahoma. Anderson is managing partner of the Edmond, Okla. office of Anderson, Reichert & Anderson, CPAs LLC, which is headquartered in Osborne, Kan. He is also a Research Fellow for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.