The State Building Commission approved the governor’s capital budget recommendations las Wednesday, which detail public building construction and maintenance funding to generate economic activity and jobs.
The governor’s 2011-2013 capital budget allocates $1.1 billion – a 28.8 percent reduction from the current capital budget amount of $1.6 billion – to state facilities. Requests include $67 million for the University of Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research, $50 million for the UW-Milwaukee and $27.4 million to improve the existing Department of Hearings and Appeals and Department of Corrections.
“Our capital budget aggressively uses the funds available to us to maintain state buildings, plan for growth and most importantly create jobs,” Gov. Scott Walker said in a statement.
He added an estimated $100 million in construction expenditures will add $340 million to the economy and could create or sustain 2,850 jobs. The 2011-2013 capital budget would generate $3.7 billion in economic activity and could create or sustain around 31,000 jobs, Walker said in a statement.
The UW System was pleased with the budget, UW System President Kevin Reilly said in a statement. The System received $229.6 million of program revenue and gifts and an additional $72 million in state-funded UW building projects for the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium.
“This is an excellent capital budget that represents a strong partnership between the UW System and the state of Wisconsin,” Reilly said. “It is a result of solid planning, tough decisions and thorough priority-setting. Governor Walker and members of the commission recognize the importance of these facilities to our core UW mission.”
Specific projects include nearly $80 million to renovate nine residence halls and three dining halls across six System campuses, roughly $77 million for the new Badger Performance Center on the Madison campus that will house athletic training and practice facilities for the hockey and swim teams, and $50 million to repair aging facilities at UW-Stout, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville and UW-Superior.
A $52 million facility for the UW-Madison School of Nursing was also added to the budget during the commission meeting.
“The nursing school will help us address the state’s shortage of nurses,” Walker said in a statement. “It will allow Wisconsin to train the next generation of health care professionals so we can meet the needs of our citizens.”
The governor’s capital budget also includes setting aside money to fund a joint museum that would house both the Wisconsin Historical Museum and Veteran’s Museum in a single building.
The language in the budget said the facilities utilized by each museum are too small and inadequate to display exhibitions commonly found in a modern museum. The new museum would be a single 200,000 square foot building, but the two museums would still be separated within the facility.
The budget provides the State Historical Society with $5 million to begin planning the project, while the rest of the $75 million would be allocated when construction begins in 2016.
After the UW System and State Historical Society allocations, the third highest recipient of general funding is the Department of Corrections. DOC will spread nearly $24 million across six projects for building renovations, construction of a health services unit at the Columbia Correctional Institute and replacing coal boilers with natural gas and oil boilers to serve a number of facilities in the Waupun area.
