91视频

Santa Claus is coming to town. More importantly for state agencies, so is the Legislature.

It is that time of year again. Agency officials are making out their wish lists, and a lot of them want the political equivalent of an Erector Set.

Some of them serve on a committee that wants the Legislature to provide at least $225 million for construction to make the Oregon State Capitol safer against earthquakes. At the Oregon Department of Corrections, officials want $600 million for new prisons and $200 million more for a new headquarters in Salem.

These and all other construction requests go to Gov. John Kitzhaber as he drafts his proposed budget for the Legislature before it convenes in January.

鈥淭here are bunches of them,鈥� said Vickie Hardin Woods, vice chairwoman of the Capital Projects Advisory Committee, which screens capital projects as they are proposed. 鈥淭hey plan these things years out.鈥�

Among the proposals on the table are $8.5 million for new Department of Fish and Wildlife offices in Salem and $7.2 million for Military Department armory upgrades. There also is a request for an unspecified amount to build a new gym, auditorium and boys鈥� dormitory at the Oregon School for the Deaf.

Woods added that the Oregon Department of Transportation is compiling a lengthy construction wish list.

Proposals go first to Woods鈥� committee before being forwarded to the Department of Administrative Services for further evaluation. Recommendations are then made to the governor.

Kitzhaber鈥檚 budget is scheduled to be unveiled on Nov. 30 at 10 a.m. Tim Raphael, a spokesman for the governor, said Kitzhaber might not be in jolly spirits when it comes to construction.

However, he said, it is too early to say. He declined to give specifics on construction proposals headed toward the governor鈥檚 office.

鈥淭he whole budget process is still in progress,鈥� Raphael said. 鈥淣othing has been decided.鈥�

Nonetheless, James Sinks, a spokesman for the Oregon State Treasury, said agencies probably are itching for new construction projects. The economy is bad, and interest rates are low, so it鈥檚 a good time to build.

Then again, Sinks said, the economy is bad. It鈥檚 not a good time to ask the governor and legislators for millions of dollars.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the calculus you have to consider when looking at construction projects,鈥� Sinks said.

The revenue picture in the next biennium may not be pretty, he added. Gas tax revenue, often a big source for new construction, is expected to decrease as people drive their cars less.

鈥淭hat kind of changes the math,鈥� Sinks said.

Kitzhaber offered a sneak preview of his proposed budget during a speech to the Oregon School Boards Association earlier this month. He talked about increasing spending for education by squeezing 鈥渉undreds of millions鈥� of dollars out of the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS).

He hinted at a tight budget that would seem to leave little room for a massive expansion of prisons and other capital projects.

That is fine with state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, who is vice chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Any capital projects that make their way past the governor will face their first major challenge in the committee. She said she and her fellow legislators are not in a spending mood.

In fact, she said, people must have a certain amount of gall to ask the Legislature to fund any construction project when money for basic human needs is so tight.

鈥淭he dissonance here is something I cannot reconcile,鈥� she said.

Johnson said she is particularly steamed when she sees facilities such as nursing homes closing while bureaucrats seem more concerned with whether they will get new offices.

鈥淚 know I am mixing pots of money here, but all they seem to see is government enriching itself, and Grandma is out on the street,鈥� she said.

State Rep. Vicki Berger, chairwoman of the Revenue Committee, said the Legislature is going to be a tough nut for state agencies to crack this session 鈥� especially when looking for big-ticket projects.

鈥淓ventually, it comes down to a political question,鈥� Berger said. 鈥淟egislators don鈥檛 give that (political power) up very quickly.鈥�

Public agencies face a definite conundrum, said Woods, who is also the community development director for the city of Salem.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to invest in maintenance and deferred maintenance projects when you have to fund the day-to-day operation of an agency,鈥� she said. 鈥淭heir needs are always way more than the money that鈥檚 out there.鈥�