HAZARD — Gov. Steve Beshear stopped at the Hal Rogers Center on Wednesday to introduce his recent state budget proposal and to discuss the troubling economic issues Kentucky is facing.

During his visit, Beshear said in these troubling economic times there are no good choices or answers.

“When you are trying to balance a budget in the mess we are in, there are all bad choices. But, you have to make choices, and you have to set priorities,” he said. “We are dealing with a $456.1 million shortfall. The plan that I put together involves more spending cuts, more fund transfers and a limited amount of new revenue. We tried to draft that plan to preserve certain priorities that I think, as governor, are important.”

The governor later outlined the three areas that have the highest priority with his administration.

“The education of our kids is of the utmost importance to us. Whether it is in bad times or good times, our children are our future and the education of those kids, so they can compete in the 21st century, is our future,” Beshear said. “Basic health care for our most vulnerable folks is a priority to me, and I think it is a priority for most Kentuckians in general. Public safety, the ability for our people to feel safe at home and on the streets is a priority that every government deals with.”

Despite the poor economic conditions, Beshear stressed that Kentuckians have to come through with abilities and ambition still intact.

“My goal is more than just survival. We are going to survive, and I will tell you that we are going to come through this. As bad as it may get we will come through this,” he said.

Beshear said the controversial use of additional coal severance funds in the proposed budget will only include excess funds that were not originally anticipated.

“The coal severance money and tax is about the only tax that is going up. When we did our budget in April, the legislature and I projected what we thought our coal severance receipts were going to be and we appropriated that to projects,” he said. “This money doesn’t touch any of those projects. This is money in excess of anything we expected, and there is about $17 million of it.”

The governor was later faced with a rather hostile crowd as hundreds of southeastern Kentucky miners questioned Beshear’s support of the coal industry.

One miner in attendance criticized state officials for the length of time that is currently needed to process mountaintop removal mining permits.

“You all want the millions of dollars in coal severance tax, but you have to release the holler fill permits that are there. We just feel like we need help from you. We have a bunch of leaders in here and representatives, senators and all that, and we feel like they are capable of running our region, and we are tired of people from western Kentucky and Lexington and central Kentucky coming up here and trying to run our business,” the miner said. “We feel like we do a good job. You have been through Hazard. You have to have a holler fill to make room for this level land for development.”

Beshear said his administration is not opposed to mountaintop removal mining and added that state officials are processing mine permits as quickly as possible.

“(Lt. Gov.) Daniel Mongiardo and I are two of the strongest proponents that you are going to have in office for a long time,” he said. “We are not sitting down there holding on to any permits, because we are trying to hold on to permits. There is no intent on our permit to hold up any of these permits. We are going to be processing them as fast as we can process them with the folks that we have got.”

Newly elected state representative Fitz Steele also discussed the coal industry.

“We know the problems with our streams, and it is not our coal miners. We need permits out. Some are down to days and months before they lose their jobs,” he said. “As eastern Kentuckians, we always step up to the plate, but we want our fair share, too. I would like to see our severance money come back only to coal producing counties.”

During his stop in the mountains, Beshear also discussed his proposed cigarette tax hike of 70 cents per pack that could help to offset a $456 million revenue shortfall.

“Nobody wants to raise any taxes, and I understand that. I don’t like it, either. But I told you that there aren’t any easy choices left,” he said. “We either have to decide to wipe out a lot of services that you want and need or we have to raise some revenue from some place. The most acceptable place in my mind was to raise the tobacco taxes.”