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Shawnee Republican. “This is a fake budget that does not pay our bills.”

Legislators were trying to close projected budget shortfalls that at one point totaled more than $1 billion through June 2019. Also, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in March that education funding in March was inadequate; lawmakers approved a plan phasing in a $293 million increase over two years.

The Legislature’s research staff calculated that the mix of budget and tax policies would work for two years, and leave the state with a modest cushion of cash reserves.

But the researchers also said that without tapping road dollars and scaling back pension contributions, the state could face significant budget shortfalls again by 2020. That would force lawmakers to consider spending cuts or a new round of tax increases.

Moody’s report improving the state’s credit outlook cited both the diversion of highway funds and the state’s long-term pension liabilities as ongoing concerns. Legislators in 2012 committed to closing the longterm funding gap in the pension system by 2034; that date now may be pushed back a decade.

“Kansas’ budget story has been pretty messy the last couple of years, but I think that the tax increase will make the story a lot cleaner in the next couple of years,” said Dan Seymour, a Moody’s vice president.