The Kansas Department of Revenue mailed individual income tax forms during the month of December and since announced that perhaps more than 100,000 of the forms contained an error. The department does not know what part of the state received these forms. If you received one of the forms with an error you may identify the form by looking on line 25 of the K-40 forms. On line 24, they compute a total for credits they receive against their tax liabilities. If line 17 is greater than line 24, the taxpayer owes the state money. On the flawed forms, the instructions on line 25 reverse the two line numbers. You may be due a refund rather than owing the department. The Kansas Dept. of Revenue has set a goal this tax season to provide service that is fair, friendly and fast. To help meet this goal, taxpayers who need personal assistance with their accounts or tax forms are supposed to be able to call the customer representative at the toll-free number of 1-877-KANSREV (1-877-526-7738). I urge all taxpayers in my district who experience difficulty with this number or with their service, to please contact my office.

Each week I find that constituent’s have a different issue which floods my mail box and other communication methods. This past week was no exception as the announced proposed plan by the Governor to freeze the state’s employer’s contri-butions to KPERS created a great stir. This proposal was made in order to make up for current budget shortfalls. The comment I heard most often is that State govern-ment is raiding the public employee’s retirement benefits in the same manner as the Federal government raids the Social Security Fund. I would urge my constituents to watch this issue as the session progresses.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee took action to cut $13 per pupil from state school aid for the budget year commencing July 1. Under legislation passed last year we committed $50 per student increase for next year’s education budget. Special education costs were also reduced for the "excess costs." Instead of budgeting the 85% percent excess costs, the committee proposal was set at 80%. Without a doubt, the education budget is one of the highest priorities of all budgets. The committee made a pledge to revisit this budget when the new budget estimates are announced April 4. The estimates are currently running $5.6 million above the projections. I believe it is still early in the session and the promise we made last year to the school districts could still be honored.