New UW business college, Game and Fish headquarters remain on list
JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - The university gets a new business college, Cheyenne gets a new Game and Fish Department building, and community colleges get zilch in Gov. Dave Freudenthal's proposed capital construction budget.
The new University of Wyoming business college and major maintenance for state and university buildings are the two big-ticket items in the governor's budget, at $55 million each.
The governor is recommending $158 million in capital construction for the 2009-2010 biennium that begins July 1, 2008. That's much less than the $500 million requested by state agencies, and $67 million less than the $225 million recommended in October by the State Building Commission.
The commission includes the governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and state superintendent of public instruction.
The commission did not recommend any capital construction money for the seven community colleges, partly on grounds that state statutes are vague regarding the elected officials' authority to make those recommendations.
Freudenthal said Monday he also made no recommendations for community college construction in his budget, partly because no clear philosophy has emerged over the shift of a major part of community college capital construction funding responsibility to the state.
"I do support the concept of state loans to match local funding for college construction, which may be proposed during the coming legislative session," Freudenthal said Monday through his press secretary, Cara Eastwood.
The governor will release more information on the budget during a news conference Friday afternoon. Saturday is his deadline to submit the budget to the Legislature.
"The recommendations reflect a realistic allocation of limited resources to the most logical and pressing projects," Freudenthal said of his capital construction recommendations.
The Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee begins its work on the budget the week of Dec. 10.
The capital construction budget includes two major projects for Cheyenne: $14 million for new Game and Fish Department headquarters, and $9 million to upgrade the Wyoming Military Department's airfield.
The governor also is recommending $5 million for a new tourist welcome center in Cheyenne along Interstate 25.
But another Cheyenne project didn't make it. A $31.6 million project to consolidate the state health lab on the top floor of the Hathaway Building with other state labs on a new state-owned site in south Cheyenne, was rejected by the governor.
The budget also includes $669,910 for an addition to the Wyoming State Training School at Lander.
The $55 million major maintenance figure represents 1.5 percent of the $3.6 billion value of all state, university and community college buildings.
Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@trib.com.