Kansas Faces Budget Revenue Shortfall

A new Kansas revenue forecast says the state will face a $279 million budget shortfall by July and an even bigger gap to close in the year after that.

State officials released a new financial forecast Monday that revised the state’s revenue projections for budget year that began in July.

The forecasters dropped the expectation of total revenues by $206 million, to just under $5.8 billion.

The state officials and university economists also issued the first projections for the fiscal years beginning in July 2015 and 2016. They said revenues would be $5.8 billion in the next fiscal year, then just shy of $5.9 billion.

Officials said after closing a $279 million gap in the current budget, the state still would have another $436 million shortfall by July 2016.