Of bonds, bridges, and bravado

It
hasn’t gotten as much play as the school nurses story, but the county’s 2004
capital budget could be the next big thing.

            Twice the county legislature has rejected
the capital budget, which is essentially a list of projects the county wants to
tackle each year. They include road and bridge work, construction projects, and
technology upgrades. The 2004 capital budget also includes money to purchase
voting machines, and funding for reconstruction of the Civic Center Garage
complex and the county office building. Estimated cost to the county is about
$35.6 million.

            The capital budget needs 20 votes to
pass the legislature, and Democrats have blocked it. They are pushing for a
less-expensive alternative.

            “It almost doubles the county’s debt
service and we think the debt service should be held where it is,” says
Minority Leader Stephanie Aldersley. “The debt
service goes into the operating budget. So when you bond, you pay the price the
next year.”

            Debt service is the payments on
money the county borrows for the projects. Bonds are certificatesofdebtissuedbyagovernmentorcorporationtoraisemoney.

            Democrats have their own proposal,
which puts off most of the low-priority items in the
capital budget until 2005.

            “It’s not at all unusual for
low-priority items to be done the next year. They get approved, but then
they’re not done,” Aldersley says. “So really, I
think we’re just putting in law a process that frequently occurs.”

            But Republicans say Democrats are
playing it for political mileage; trying to make them look bad in a year when
six seats — and control of the legislature — are up for grabs.

            “We’re in the silly season and
they’re determined to make political points,” says Republican Jack Driscoll.
“Everything they’ve been doing is geared towards putting on political
pressure.”

The 2004
capital budget should have — following tradition — been
approved alongside the 2004 operating budget. But that didn’t happen. The
16-member GOP caucus approved the operating budget without Democrats in the
room. They couldn’t do that with the capital budget because they need three
Democrats to get the required 20 votes.

            “I certainly don’t think even they
had the chutzpah to say, ‘OK, we passed all those things we don’t need you for,
now we need you for this,'” says Democrat Kevin Murray.

            The capital budget failed to pass
when it was introduced at the December 9 lej meeting
and again at a subsequent meeting in February.

            The Democratic foot-dragging is
unconscionable, Driscoll says, because important projects are languishing.

            “We’re already now entering into
construction season. If they approved it now we would begin to go through the
process of bidding and all of that, which takes time, which means that every
project will be delayed,” he says. “It will push all of the projects out into
the fall and winter months, which of course costs more money because they can’t
work as fast. The conditions slow them down.”

            The delay also has a “devastating
impact” on area workers, Driscoll says. Many of these projects, he says, could
be creating jobs.

            Can the dramatics, counter
Democrats.

            “Listen, the ground is still
frozen,” Aldersley says. “There’s no way they could
have started at this point.”

Besides,
Democrats aren’t so sure the GOP wants the budget to go ahead, anyway.

            “There’s been virtually no pressure
from their side [to pass it],” Aldersley says. “My
notion has been that every day it doesn’t pass, they’re saving money. And they
know they don’t have much money on hand, so I think they’re pleased to not have
to spend money, but be able to blame us.
So I don’t think a reduced capital budget is out of line with their goals.”

            Republicans, Murray points out,
were able to swing a few Democrats over to their side to support bonding for
state retirement and pension payments. That bond failed by a single vote.

            “They tried to do deals
with [Democratic legislator] Todd [Bullard] and others with that thing, so
they’re certainly not shy in trying to talk to people when they’re interested,”
Murray says.
“Somehow they thought that was
important enough to keep bringing it up, but they don’t seem to have the same
desire when it comes to dealing with the capital budget. They have not come and
asked us to move it forward, to the best of my knowledge.”

            The pension and retirement bonding
came up a total of four times. It was consistently defeated.

            Republican Mark Assini
insists that the GOP does want the
capital plan approved.

            “Of course,” he says. “There’s no
reason not to have these projects pushed. Many of them are projects which are
related to road safety and bridge safety. So they’re very important projects.”

Aldersley isn’t sure what her caucus will do next, but it
will likely propose some changes to the capital budget at the next CountyLegislature meeting on
April 20. One of those proposals will probably be to put off low-priority
projects to 2005. Those include master plan improvements at SenecaPark, the CivicCenter complex
reconstruction, some bridge work, and other projects.

            All the high-priority items are
still in the Democratic plan, Aldersley says,
referring to the “Agenda for Fiscal Responsibility” reform plan released by her
party this month.

            “There are a lot of important
projects in this capital budget, so we’re going to propose that they go
forward, I’m certain,” Aldersley says.

            The Democrats’ plan cuts the annual
debt service of the 2004 capital budget by about $500,000 Aldersley
says.

            “We’re serious about this,” she
says. “And I think the Republicans should give us a hearing.”

            But that’s not likely to happen. The
GOP-controlled legislature hasn’t shown much patience or tolerance for ideas
coming from the left side of the room.

            “Well, it’s springtime. And hope
springs eternal,” Murray says. “You
never know what’s going to happen, but at the same time, we have a
responsibility to put forward those things that we believe in. If they pass,
that would be great. [If not], we’ve gone on record at least indicating the
direction that we would go if we were the majority.”

Democrats have
no business, Driscoll says, telling the county which
projects are important enough to go forward and which are not.

            “Essentially what they’re trying to
do is run the county for [county executive] Maggie Brooks,” he says.

            The Democrats’ proposal to postpone
certain projects may sound reasonable, Driscoll says, but it won’t save the
county any money.

            “You postpone to 2005, the price
goes up to do it” due to inflation, he says. “It’s a case of good business
management. Why would you delay something… and escalate the cost? Tell me where
that serves the people’s purposes. It still has to be done.”

            You have to look at the capital
budget in the context of the county’s overall financial picture, Murray says. The
county has been in the habit, he says, of robbing itself of future revenues by
selling off assets and taking tobacco settlement money up front.

            “By taking all that money and
spending it today, it makes things a lot harder in the future,” he says.

            Republicans, Murray says, don’t
believe in pay-as-you-go. Their philosophy, he says, is bond today, pay
tomorrow.

            “They refuse to pay for them as they
go along because, of course, taxes are unpopular. They got away with that for a
while because of tobacco [settlement money] and [by] selling assets. But
eventually the cupboard is going to be bare,” Murray says. “The
whole idea is, ‘Everything we can bond, we will bond.’ It’s not whether we
should or shouldn’t. It’s, ‘Is it legal?’ If it’s legal, [then it’s] ‘Get every
Goddamn penny you can.'”

This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2004.