Call to Order and Roll Call
The 5th meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue was held on Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 1:00 PM, in Room 154 of the Capitol Annex. Senator Christian McDaniel, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Senator Christian McDaniel, Co-Chair; Representative Rick Rand, Co-Chair; Senators Ralph Alvarado, Danny Carroll, Chris Girdler, Stan Humphries, Morgan McGarvey, Dennis Parrett, Wil Schroder, Brandon Smith, Robin L. Webb, Stephen West, and Max Wise; Representatives Linda Belcher, John Carney, Larry Clark, Leslie Combs, Ron Crimm, Mike Denham, Jeffery Donohue, Myron Dossett, Kelly Flood, Marie Rader, Bart Rowland, Sal Santoro, Dean Schamore, Arnold Simpson, Wilson Stone, Tommy Turner, Jim Wayne, and Addia Wuchner.
Guests: Adam Caswell, Northern Kentucky University; Wayne D. Andrews, President, Morehead State University; Beth Patrick, Morehead State University; David Eager, Kentucky Retirement Systems; Beau Barnes, Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System; Sandra Dunahoo, Commissioner, Department of Local Government; Amy Barnes, Executive Director, Office of State Grants, Darren Sammons, Staff Attorney, Department of Local Government.
LRC Staff: Jennifer Hays, Charlotte Quarles, Eric Kennedy and Jennifer Beeler.
Approval of the Minutes
Senator Alvarado made a motion, seconded by Representative Santoro, to approve the minutes of the September 19, 2016, meeting. The motion carried by voice vote.
Testimony Regarding University Pension Costs
Representatives from Northern Kentucky University, Morehead State University, Kentucky Retirement Systems and Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement Systems gave brief overviews of the impact of University contributions into the retirement system programs.
The representatives from Northern Kentucky University and Morehead State University explained that, due to the increase in retirement system contributions and the decrease in state appropriations, there have been revenue lost and jobs eliminated. Several universities who participate in the retirement system programs have started seeking out third party vendors to outsource work, usually hourly employees limited in their ability to find other employment in the region.
Testimony on the Joint Funding Administration
Secretary Dunahoo and Amy Barnes with the Department of Local Government (DLG) explained that the Joint Funding Administration was originally created as a way to unify funding to the Area Development Districts (ADDs) from multiple state and federal sources. The number of participating agencies has declined over the years. The Department of Local Government executes Memoranda of Agreements with each of the 15 ADDs.
Secretary Dunahoo stated that the Joint Funding Administration includes both federal and state dollars. Funds included are state general fund appropriation, economic development administration, community development block grant and Appalachian regional commission match funding.
Secretary Dunahoo said that DLG has been working on a new formula in order to distribute funds to the ADDs. DLG has brought the ADDs together to get feedback and are now working on developing the fairest way to distribute funds.
Discussion on the costs associated with services required by agencies
Janice Tomes and Greg Harkenrider with the Office of the State Budget Director said that the costs associated with services required by agencies are the costs of elections (Board of Elections), expert witness fees and other costs (Attorney General’s Office), county costs (Finance and Administration), and jail per diem and jail design fees (Justice and Public Safety Cabinet).
Ms. Tomes stated that all these are necessary government expenses (NGEs). The authority to spend funds on certain expenses is provided in the enacted budget without a sum-specific appropriation amount. Funds come from the General Fund Surplus Account or the Budget Reserve Trust Fund.
With no further business before the committee, the meeting adjourned.