The Senate Institutions Committee passed out a capital bill on Tuesday that reflects a $29,454 increase over the House’s $173.2 million version.
The committee’s draft of the state bonding and construction bill for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 calls for the same level of borrowing as the House’s $159.9 million in general fund bonding, and the bill re-allocates the extra $29,454 from a 2010 grant. To read more about the ins and outs of the House bill that the Senate committee’s draft builds from, click here.
The biggest additions to the bill are a $1.53 million allocation for “Statewide Major Maintenance” and $450,000 for the Regional Economic Development Grant Program.
The most notable reduction in the bill is a $2 million decrease from the House’s allocation to the new Waterbury State Office Complex of $56.2 million.
Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, who chairs the committee, said that a state building in the Colchester area is supposed to sell in the near future and will make up for that missing amount.
“We shorted $2 million from Waterbury next year,” she said. “Assuming building 617 sells, it will go right back in … The money is going to be there.”
For this two-year capital bill, legislators are planning to make budget adjustments at the outset of next year’s session.
That $2 million reduction in the Institutions’ version would bring down the total for Tropical Storm Irene-related expenses from $69 million to $67 million for state construction projects.
The next step for the bill is the Senate Appropriations Committee, after which it will go to the Senate floor.
