Representatives of Chilton County in the Alabama Legislature are at odds with Gov. Robert Bentley over a proposed state budget.

Bentley on Thursday vetoed the General Fund Budget that passed the Alabama Legislature Wednesday.

Sen. Cam Ward said Bentley based his veto on his desire to transfer money from public education to pay for Medicaid and prisons.

“I just can not support this and will vote to override his veto,” Ward said.

State Rep. Jimmy Martin said on Friday that he thought the budget was one of the best the Legislature has come up with.

“With the present money we have, it was a good budget,” Martin said. “Every time you turn around, we are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. One day it is going to catch up with us. I was pretty sure the governor was going to veto the budget.”

Martin said currently, everything is being cut to give more money to Medicaid.

“Medicaid is being abused badly,” Martin said.

Martin said once everyone returns from Spring Break next week, the budget will be returned to the House and Senate.

“We will get the choice of either trying to work something out or overriding the governor’s veto and sending it right back to him,” Martin said. “We are going to either have to come up with some tax money or leave it the way it is.”

“The General Fund Budget is unacceptable because it lacks adequate funding for essential government services,” Bentley said in a release. “The proposed appropriation falls short of what the Medicaid Agency will require to provide services for the over one million Alabamians, most of them children, covered by Medicaid. In addition, the Medicaid reform measures put into place in 2013 by the Alabama Legislature will be unsustainable under the budget passed this week. The state has already made great progress to remodel and streamline the Medicaid model to a regional managed-care system. That progress will be lost without adequate funding from the General Fund.”

Bentley said the Department of Corrections must also be adequately funded in order to address the prison crisis long-term.

“We have made strong reforms in the prison system; however, insufficient funding hinder the department’s efforts for further reform,” Bentley said in a release. “We have witnessed the dangerous conditions inside our state-operated prisons, and the Alabama Legislature must prioritize prison system safety with adequate appropriations.”

Bentley went on to say that within the General Fund budget, the Alabama Legislature is using millions in BP settlement funds to pay for recurring annual expenses.

“It is fiscally irresponsible and shortsighted to use one-time money for recurring annual expenses,” Bentley said in a release. “Because of these concerns, I will veto the General Fund Budget and send it back to the Legislature when they return on April 5. I am committed to working with the Legislature to address our General Fund budget challenges.”