The Quad-City Times - News, Sports and more from the Quad Cities region or Iowa and Illinois

You are not logged in.
Login

Log in to qctimes.com
Email:
Password:
Remember my information.
Register
Quadsville
Site Help

Construction plan price jumps to $31 billion

Font Size:

By Times Staff | Tuesday, May 20, 2008 |

SPRINGFIELD — The price tag of a long-sought statewide construction program has ballooned to $31 billion, raising new questions about whether the plan will topple under its own weight.

The proposal, unveiled Tuesday by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his two point men on the program, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard, eclipses a previous version that would have paid for $25 billion in new roads, bridges and schools.

Poshard said the proposal could have been even bigger based on what he’s learned traveling the state in recent weeks on behalf of the governor.

“We would have had a $60 billion bill,” Poshard said during a press conference Tuesday with Hastert to unveil the plan.

The program, however, again faces a bumpy road in the General Assembly. Democrats who control the House and Senate can’t agree on how to pay for basic state operations, let alone a plan that would pump billions to new highways, civic centers and community colleges.

“This is clearly a little more aggressive than the flat funding the governor proposed, but it’s still reasonable,” said state Rep. David Miller, D-Lynwood.

Senate Democrats favor a no-growth budget.

“We have no money. We can’t do anything new,” argued Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete.

The stalemate had one Senate Democrat predicting a repeat of last year’s bitter overtime session.

“I just don’t think we’re going to get out of here by May 31,” said state Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago.

No matter what the outcome of the construction program, Hastert and Poshard said they stitched together a proposal they believe addresses most of the concerns voiced by lawmakers.

For example, rather than raising taxes, the plan would be financed by leasing a portion of the state lottery and by a massive expansion of gambling, neither of which have been embraced by lawmakers.

The Springfield Bureau can be contacted at (217) 789-0865.

Comment on this story at qctimes.com.