Conservative policies leave financial train wreck

But as Brownback prepares to depart, it’s an appropriate time to look back at what the governor’s conservative economic policies will cost taxpayers for years to come. Let there be no doubt: Brownback leaves a financial train wreck in his wake.

From the state’s drained highway fund to its beleaguered pension system for state workers, Kansas taxpayers now have a lot of fiscal ground to make up. In fact, the total reaches into the billions.

Our advice to taxpayers: Grab a shovel and start digging. Escaping from this fiscal mess is going to take a lot of work — and possibly still more tax increases, as we’ve pointed out.

“For a small Midwestern state, it’s a massive hole,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat. “And it’s going to take years to recover.”