The state senate has soundly rejected an effort to get rid of 200-million dollars in state reserve funds by giving the money back to income tax payers.
Senator Victor Callahan, a Democrat from Independence, used rhetoric often heard from the other side of the aisle in urging the refund, saying it was better for taxpayers to keep their money and make their own decisions how to spend it, thus boosting the economy.
Senator Wes Shoemeyer, a Democrat from Clarence, found the word "surplus" misleading to begin with. He called it a "deficit of investments; a deficit in compassion," noting the surplus, or reserve, had been built upon cuts in services made by the legisalture in 2005.
But opponents, including several members of Callahan’s own party, say a weak economic forecast makes retention of the reserve funds a more financially-responsible thing for state government to do.
Callahan’s idea got only five votes from the 34-member senate.
