Area projects make budget

BY BRAD SHANNON, The Olympian | • Published April 27, 2009

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Lawmakers sent Gov. Chris Gregoire a $7.5 billion transportation budget Sunday that contains money for several South Sound projects.

However, a capital construction budget that also contains money for Olympia�s Percival Landing and other local projects was caught in a snag over renewable-energy requirements for utilities. Its status was uncertain by midevening as lawmakers worked toward adjourning by their midnight deadline.

Resolution of the dispute would mean millions of dollars in the more than $3 billion capital budget would become available after July 1 for many South Sound projects. Besides nearly $3.6 million to start piling replacements on Percival Landing, there is $1 million toward the construction of a new children�s museum in Olympia and $235,000 for the Harlequin theater renovation.

�If we don�t pass the capital budget tonight, and it has to go back to the house of origin, it will unfortunately be revised in some way,� said Sen. Karen Fraser, the Thurston County Democrat who wrote the capital-spending plan and had concerns that budget agreements could be ripped apart in revisions. �That�s why some people call it a nuclear option.�

Fraser�s counterpart in the House, Democratic Rep. Hans Dunshee of Snohomish, called the threat of a breakdown a mid-level risk late in the afternoon. But he also said there were several hours left to work out a compromise.

Assuming its passage, Fraser said the capital budget looks good for Thurston County despite a smaller-than-usual bond bill that resulted from falling state revenue and transfers of construction funds to the operating budget.

The Percival Landing money is just a portion of the cost for Olympia to start replacing creosote pilings that leach toxins into Puget Sound. Several other projects on or near the state Capitol Campus get $32.7 million, and other community projects also are in line for funds.

The capital budget, which awaited passage in the Senate on Sunday night, faced other controversies on its way to passing in the House late Friday night. House Republicans voted against it as a bloc � except Rep. Tom Campbell of Roy, who voted in favor. The GOP was protesting the transfer of $780 million from capital accounts into the operating budget, and also $8 million for state parks� purchase of Kiket Island at a time when the agency is struggling to keep parks open.

The $7.5 billion transportation budget had an easier path; both chambers approved it on bipartisan votes. It is expected to create 49,000 jobs with a $4.4 billion burst of construction on more than 400 projects in the next two years, and it includes as much as $2.4 billion in state funds for a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle.

It was immune to the last-minute scramble on the final day of the regular session, although a dispute over the capital-bond bill could also endanger financing for pontoon construction for a new State Route 520 floating bridge in King County. House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said she was concerned that could jeopardize jobs in Grays Harbor County, where some pontoon work would be done.

The transportation budget includes its share of South Sound projects. There is $68.5 million to continue widening work on Interstate 5 between Maytown and Grand Mound south of Tumwater, and $56.2 million for the first phase of widening I-5 from Grand Mound to Centralia.

And the first phase of the Yelm bypass highway gets $11.05 million in 2009-11, which lets contracts go to bid later this year.

At the request of Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, there also is a provision to keep Washington State Patrol troopers investigating vehicle crashes on Thurston County roads through June 2011, making Thurston the lone Washington county that still has that service. Sheriff Dan Kimball says it could save.