The Vermont House is gearing up to vote on the largest capital bill ever, in terms of total dollars.
The state bonding and construction bill for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 is slated to hit the House floor on Thursday. It’s the second biennium in a row that the bill includes two years of spending, whereas previous capital bills were based on annual cycles.
The bill, which mostly follows Gov. Peter Shumlin’s recommendations, features $173.2 million in spending and $159.9 million in general fund bonding. The remaining revenues come from $7.6 million in bond premiums and $5.7 million from unspent funds bonded for in previous years.
Of the total spending, $69 million is for state projects related to Tropical Storm Irene.
“That’s the big chunk,” Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. Emmons chairs the House Corrections and Institutions Committee, which drew up the bill and unanimously approved it last Friday.
But that figure is not fixed for two years, Emmons said after her testimony.
The state is waiting for a funding commitment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the new Waterbury State Office Complex, which will cost $124.7 million. The new complex will replace the offices that were inundated by Irene’s floodwaters. The Shumlin administration is also negotiating reimbursements rates with Lexington Insurance, the state’s insurance company.
Without those FEMA and insurance numbers, the $69 million is just a placeholder that will likely be changed in January, during the Budget Adjustment Act process.
“The reality is that nothing is in stone here,” Emmons said. “We make the best decisions we can at a point in time with the best information we have. We know that as the process evolves there could be items that change, and we’re used to that.”
Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding said that the number is very real for the administration, as it represents what the state should pay for the Irene replacement projects.
Those projects brandish a total price tag of $187.5 million. They include the $124.7 million Waterbury State Office Complex replacement, an $11 million lab for the Agencies of Natural Resources and Agriculture, $43.2 million for five facilities to replace the Vermont State Hospital, and the $8.66 million in National Life renovations.
That hefty cost leaves the state staring down a $56 million budget gap in the absence of FEMA and insurance funds. It’s the difference between the $187.5 million for the projects and the state’s $131.2 million in revenues, which come from the capital bill’s $69 million allocation and $63.4 million in other revenue sources — like $27 million from FEMA for the state hospital, $3.5 million from National Life and prior allocations.
Spaulding said the administration hopes FEMA and Lexington provide a combined $50 million in funding for the office complex. If both parties come through for the administration, the state would only have a $6 million gap to fund in fiscal year 2016.
The administration has received a go-ahead from FEMA to remove asbestos from the Waterbury complex, and Spaulding hopes to receive a funding determination from the agency by the end of April.
As far as the capital bill goes, Spaulding said, he and the governor are pleased with the work of the Institutions Committee.
“Our overall thoughts are that they’ve done good work,” he said.
In addition to the Irene replacement projects, the capital bill also would fund:
• $17,116,080 in state aid for school construction.
• $11 million for a new health lab in Colchester.
• $6.1 million for the construction of a consolidated Brattleboro and Rockingham State Police Barracks.
• $2.74 million for construction, renovations and maintenance at Vermont State Colleges.
• $2.74 million for construction, renovations and maintenance at the University of Vermont.
• $4.3 million for ecosystem restoration and protection.
• $3.5 million for renovations and an expansion of the Lamoille County Courthouse.
• $1 million for mold remediation at the Vermont Veterans Home.
For a spreadsheet of the entire capital bill, see below.
