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(Photo: Jonathan Palmer/Special to The Courier-Journal)

FRANKFORT, Ky. – House Speaker Greg Stumbo on Wednesday questioned the legal authority of Gov. Matt Bevin’s plan to cut the current year spending of most state agencies by 4.5 percent.

Bevin’s plan to cut funding by that much in the current budget was part of his budget proposal Tuesday night, which also included increasing the cut to 9 percent for most agencies over the next two-year budget period and using the savings to help pay for a big boost for Kentucky’s ailing pension systems.

Meanwhile, the states’ universities, which will see their budgets cut under Bevin’s proposal, were already beginning to gird themselves for what is to come.

University of Louisville President James Ramsey, who has forged an alliance with Bevin in an effort to remove three members of the school’s board of trustees appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear, said in a statement that the cuts “will take a toll on our ability to move forward.”

Legislators are required to pass a budget for the next two years, and Bevin has called for deep cuts in each of the years, but his plan is to implement the current year cut by his own executive authority.

Stumbo, a Prestonsburg Democrat, said to cut a current year appropriation, a governor “has to have the authority of the General Assembly …The statute is clear. I don’t know why you’d want to expose yourself to litigation you’re going to lose.”

Stumbo’s staff later cited the current budget, which spells out how a governor can cut the budget if state revenues fall below expectations, and noted that revenues have exceeded expectations this fiscal year.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said Stumbo is wrong.

“Just because the General Assembly appropriates an amount of money in a budget does not mandate that amount be spent in full,” Stivers said.

Jessica Ditto, communications director for Bevin’s office, said, “Our budget office assures me that the governor has the authority … and there’s precedent for doing so.”

Among the state agencies that will face cuts over the next 30 months in Bevin’s proposed budget are the state’s universities, which have had to rely more and more on student tuition and fundraising over the past 20 years as their state appropriations have been slashed.

What is concerning university presidents most is the 4.5 percent that the schools must slash their budgets between now and the end of June.

“Well, it’s pretty alarming to think 4.5 percent in this fiscal year with seven months already gone by,” said Western Kentucky University President Gary Ransdell, moments after Bevin’s speech ended. “I’ve not dealt with anything quite that daunting even with the cuts we’ve experienced over the last 10 years.”

Ransdell was unsure how Western would make the cuts if they ultimately are required.

“I don’t know, we just have to get back and roll up our sleeves and see what we can do,” he said.

In an email to the University of Kentucky Campus, President Eli Capilouto said the cuts will mean $12.4 million this year and $25.2 million next year – numbers that he said are hard to fathom.

“Certainly, the magnitude of reductions in the Governor’s budget proposal presents significant challenges to our university,” he said in the email.

Capilouto went on to say that the school would try to work with Bevin but would also work with the legislature in an effort to make its members understand what is at stake.

“We will thoughtfully and respectfully tell our story in the coming months in the General Assembly,” he said. “We will work in a spirit of cooperation with the Governor and legislators to make clear our needs. But we must acknowledge the fiscal realities of our state.

At U of L, Ramsey, a former state budget director, complimented Bevin’s budget but raised concerns about the cuts – which follow 16 budget cuts over the past 17 years.

“The University of Louisville developed seven strategies for moving forward in a tough fiscal environment and these strategies will continue to help buffer, but cannot relieve the entire pain that continued cuts impose,” he wrote.

House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, who has Morehead State University in his district, criticized the planned cuts and lamented that any cuts to the schools and particularly the state’s technical college system would undercut his plan to sink more money into worker training.

Reached late in the day, Sue Patrick, a spokeswoman for the state’s Council on Postsecondary Education, said that agency, which oversees the state university system, didn’t have any immediate comment.

Reporter Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702. Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at 502-875-5136.