While the state struggles to pay rising energy and healthcare costs, the budget crunch hasn’t stalled construction work going on around the Statehouse.
Workers are completing a new $422,325 parking lot, with adjoining sidewalks, next to the state office building attached to the Statehouse.
And, steps worth $108,000 have just been completed going up to the capitol building. The lot provides short-term parking for the Statehouse and the Cross Office Building and reconstruction is being done to fix drainage problems and address safety issues, according to Elaine Clark, director of the Bureau of General Services. A new sidewalk from the new parking lot makes the north side of the building accessible to those in wheelchairs. Greenery will be added to the parking lot, in the form of islands and trees, in the spring.
The $108,000 stairway up from Capitol Street leading into the Statehouse replaces what most agree was an icy ramp in winter and one usually avoided by pedestrians, who opted instead to walk up an adjacent driveway.
Money for the stairs came out of a $1 million capital work budget approved for 2005 that also is paying for ongoing re-pointing of the granite exterior of the Statehouse and the removal earlier this year of an unattractive mechanical building from the roof.
Money for the parking lot project comes from bonds floated by the Government Facilities Authority, which was created in 1998. The bonds paid for, among other things, part of the $31 million renovation of the Statehouse, largely completed in 2001, and the renovation of the adjacent office building. The bonds are unique because they don’t require voter approval and only require a majority vote of the Legislature.
The new parking lot is one of the last projects funded under the bond floated for the last biennium or two-year budget. This week the state will float a $9 million bond to cover projects in fiscal year 2006 and 2007. Those were approved by the Legislature earlier this year.
Projects on that $9 million list include everything from new restrooms at Two Lights State Park and Popham Beach to a $1.7 million renovation of the Williams Pavilion on the old Augusta Mental Health Institute campus, now used for state offices.
After you take out the borrowing costs on a $9 million bond, “that’s $8.8 million to maintain $1.5 billion” in property the state owns throughout Maine, Clark said. That includes 85 buildings just in Augusta, on top of park facilities scattered throughout the state and all the state’s prisons.
The one state complex not under the General Service Budget for maintenance is the Statehouse, which is funded through the Legislature’s budget.
David Boulter, executive director of the Legislative Council, said the current capital budget is high because of the granite work being done on the outside of the Statehouse.
“The outside of the building has never been re-pointed at all since 1910,” he said, and to stop significant leaks and protect the inside of the building – refurbished for $31 million – work is needed.
He said once the granite re-pointing is finished, the capital budget, which is funded in the regular budget, should come down.
Those looking for some cost-savings can find some solace. The new $108,000 stairs are made of concrete instead of the granite that was used in the existing exterior stairs at the Statehouse. And, while comments have been made that the handrails look like brass, they are really made out of bronze, Boulter said.
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