COVID-19 impacting Kentucky budget, creating shortfall

May 1--GLASGOW -- One of the things Gov. Andy Beshear talked about during his press conference Thursday was the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the state's budget.

The Office of State Budget and the director issued his quarterly report on Thursday and in it he predicts "a very significant shortfall in our state budget" just for this fiscal year, which ends at the end of June.

"It's anywhere from $319 to $496 million and additionally in our road fund $100 to $200 million," the governor said. "These are significant, especially in the very end of a fiscal year and suggests that next year is going to be very difficult."

The shortfall in the state budget likely also means cuts to education, public safety and other important programs he described as being critical especially to those who are living from paycheck to paycheck.

"At a time when benefits, when public assistance has never been more important this is a real threat. Not just to where we are right now, but it's a real threat to helping us rebuild," he said. "Without federal assistance, our recession will be longer. Our unemployment will be greater."

And because of those predictions, all 50 U.S. governors are lobbying the federal government and Congress to include direct budget assistance to states and local governments that are facing the same thing.

"Remember this type of assistance was done in the Great Recession, but what we are facing right now is a worldwide health pandemic that comes with another Great Recession," he said. "They did it then. They need to do it now. This is not a political issue. Even though it appears there is back and forth between parties in D.C. All state and local governments I believe are united in knowing we have to have this if we are going to do what it takes to rebuild our economy."

He asked Kentuckians to contact their U.S. senators and representatives and make sure they are heard.

Beshear spoke with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday about the issue and expressed the need and talked over some of the numbers.

"I appreciate him hearing me out. Now I hope he will be able to act in this next CARES act to make sure that the type of relief is needed is provided," Beshear said.

He continued that when such a shortfall in funding is predicted, a consensus forecasting group, which is composed of economists, takes the state's estimates and makes an official estimate. The governor said that will happen in the coming weeks and that he will advise on the actions that need to be taken after that.

Josh Benton, deputy secretary of Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, gave a report on unemployment insurance.

He explained that during the last few weeks the cabinet has changed its approach on how it is addressing the review of unemployment claims.

"With the high volume of claims, we are trying to eliminate as many times as possible that there has to be a manual review of a claim. Unemployment insurance is an extremely complicated program with a lot of different variables that determine eligibility," he said.

The cabinet has been able to reduce the number of variables that they have to review down to four. Those primarily relate to employer separation issues and identity verification.

"There are other things like fraud and overpayment that we have to look at, but these are the biggest number of claims that we have to review," he said. "Over the past week, we have decreased the number that we have to review for March down to under 28,000. Those are 28,000 claims that we are going to get through as quickly as possible to determine eligibility so we can get those payments out and back date them if those individuals meet eligibility."

Benton continued that his staff is working on those day-in and day-out and said most of them involve an employer protest, or if the claims were marked as a quit or discharge. Employer separation is the final piece that determines eligibility, he said.

Beshear also announced that Kentuckians who qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP will now be able to make online grocery purchases at Amazon and Walmart using those benefits.

Also during the governor's press conference, an announcement was made about a special flyover by two planes with the Kentucky Air National Guard as part of Operation American Resolve to honor frontline heroes.

The flyover will take place on Friday, starting at 3 p.m. ET and will move in a clockwise route, taking off from Louisville and flying over selected medical facilities in Frankfort, Lexington, Pikeville, Bowling Green, Owensboro and returning to Louisville.

In giving his numerical COVID-19 update, the governor reported 174 new cases, bringing the total number of cases in Kentucky to 4,708.

The total number of people statewide who have recovered from the coronavirus is 1,675.

The number of new deaths reported is five.

The Barren River District Health Department has confirmed 529 cases of COVID-19 in the Barren River District, 118 of whom have recovered. The district has eight deaths reported from COVID-19.

Broken down by county, those cases are: Barren, 16 confirmed, five recovered, 0 deaths; Butler, 102 confirmed, 23 recovered, five deaths; Edmonson, 32 confirmed, 6 recovered, 0 deaths; Hart, 7 confirmed, 2 recovered, 0 deaths; Logan, 10 confirmed, 8 recovered, 0 deaths; Metcalfe, 1 confirmed, 0 recovered, 0 deaths; Simpson, 26 confirmed, 1 recovered, 2 deaths; and Warren, 335 confirmed, 59 recovered and 1 death.

While Allen County is in the Barren River area, it is not served in some instances by the Barren River District Health Department.

The Allen County Health Department reported on Thursday another confirmed positive case of COVID-19. The patient is undergoing medical treatment and is in quarantine at this time. The health department is contacting persons who may have been in contact with the individual and advising them of the self-isolation requirements within the next 24 hours, said a press release from the Allen County Health Department.

Allen County now has had a total of 17 cases reported since the start of the COVID-19 Outbreak. Currently, five cases have fully recovered and are off quarantine with the remainder of 12 in quarantine at home, the press release said.

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