Alva Review-Courier -

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators are divided over many of GOP Gov. Sam Brownback's proposals to close a shortfall in the Kansas budget by summer, and a few said Wednesday they don't like any of the ideas he's put forward.

The job at least became a little easier Wednesday when the Department of Revenue reporting that Kansas collected $24 million more in taxes than anticipated in January. It was the third straight month of better-than-expected tax collections, suggesting a pessimistic fiscal forecast issued in November was on the mark and lessening uncertainty about revenue projections.

But the estimated hole in the current budget still is about $320 million. Brownback's proposals to close it include scaling back contributions to public employees' pensions and liquidating a state investment portfolio so that the funds can back an internal government loan over seven years.

Approving the governor's proposals would allow legislators to avoid immediate cuts in aid to public schools or other spending. But Senate Ways and Means Committee members were especially critical of Brownback's proposal on pensions after a Wednesday hearing.

"I don't like any of it," said Republican Sen. Dan Kerschen, of Garden Plain.

The shortfall in the current budget is part of projected gaps in spending for existing programs totaling nearly $1.1 billion through June 2019. The state has struggled to balance its budget since Republican lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback's urging in what even some GOP voters came to see as a failed attempt to stimulate the economy.

Some legislators want to rethink those income tax cuts, while Brownback is pushing for higher liquor and cigarette taxes. But lawmakers don't believe they can raise new revenues quickly enough to plug any gaps by June 30, leaving them with the choice of cutting spending immediately or using accounting moves and other short-term fixes to push the problems off.

The proposal to scale back contributions to public pensions — saving $86 million before June 30 — galls some legislators because the state committed in 2012 to ratchet up contributions to boost the long-term financial health of the pension system.

"It's irresponsible, in my mind," said Sen. John Skubal, an Overland Park Republican.

Republican lawmakers also were critical of Brownback's proposal to liquidate the state investment portfolio and to loan the funds to the state's main bank account to cover government expenses. They don't think it solves the state's underlying fiscal problems.

Yet a bipartisan consensus is emerging in the House that the internal borrowing is preferable to spending cuts.

"It's possibly the least bad of a bunch of bad alternatives," said House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a Dighton Republican.

Legislators had previously found their efforts to deal with budget problems complicated by the state's inability to hit monthly targets for tax collections. During the 24 months ending in October, tax collections fell short of expectations 21 times.

The new fiscal forecast issued in November by state officials and university economists assumed that the state's economy would remain sluggish well into 2018, with unemployment rising and Kansans' incomes growing less than normal.

The Department of Revenue said Kansas collected $544 million in taxes in January, or 4.6 percent more than the $520 million predicted.

"You can lower the barrier so much that eventually you'll trip over it — and we did," said Sen. Laura Kelly, of Topeka, the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee.

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Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .