Ill. Governor says he won't allow two new prisons to be finished

Article Tools Print This Page | Comments(0) | Suggest a Story

By Quad City Times

Published: 09/05/2003

To keep contractors at bay, Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has kept $186.5 million in the state's capital budget for two unfinished prisons but wants to find other uses for the sites.

Blagojevich signed the legislation late last week cutting $555 million spending from the fiscal 2004 capital budget that originally contained $907 million.

Becky Carroll, a spokeswoman for the governor's office of Management and Budget, said the funds for Grayville and Hopkins Park would not be used for prison construction.

First, the state will perform an audit that would be used to determine how much money should be used to pay back contractors for the work that's been done so far on the prison buildings, she said. After contractors are paid, the state would start looking for alternative uses for the sites.

'We want to work with the community and local elected officials for what the best uses for the facilities might be,' Carroll said. 'It will be something economic development in nature, we will be working with the communities in the coming months to come up with something.'

During a recent tour of Hopkins Park, Blagojevich said he would like to see the site turned into a job training facility.

During the last legislative session, some members protested that funds would be funneled to build new prisons, while the newly, built Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum security facility, remained unused.

Blagojevich has said funds must be spent on the two incomplete projects to stave off potential lawsuits.

While the state sets aside money to pay off contractors, it is still making some reductions to other Department of Corrections facilities for a variety of upgrades from windows to lock and door replacement.

Sergio Molina, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said the agency feels confident that money left in the capital budget will cover any costs.

The difficult task for legislators and the state's budget people has been to figure out how much money is actually in the capital budget. In his veto message, Blagojevich pointed out that $401 million, the largest amount of the cuts, was simply a matter of subtracting dollars that had already been spent on the projects during the fiscal 2003 cycle.

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said he was still not sure that Blagojevich's signing the budget meant he would be receiving money for projects any faster.

Comments:

No comments have been posted for this article.

Login to let us know what you think

MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search