New budget contains $1.7 billion for construction of state facilities
With the passage of the 2016-17 budget, Texas is poised to see roughly $1.7 billion in the construction of new buildings and repair of aging structures over the next two years.
The lion's share of construction funding is contained in the budget for the Facilities Commission, which has been granted $1.34 billion in its total budget for the next two fiscal years. That figure is a more than 600-percent boost from its current budget of $187.9 million.
Most of the Facilities Commission funding (via revenue bonds) - $983.6 million - is set aside for construction of new state buildings. The projects include two office buildings and two parking structures in the Capitol Complex ($509.9 million) with walkable underground utility tunnels ($71.3 million); an office building and parking structure in North Austin ($186.4 million); new Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters ($58 million); new facility and parking structure at the G.J. Sutton Building in San Antonio($132 million); new parking garage for the Elias Ramirez Building in Houston ($26 million).
The rest of the Facilities Commission funding - about $217 million - is dedicated for health and safety and deferred maintenance projects at state facilities, along with an additional roughly $20 million for emergency repairs in the current budget. Those emergency repairs include $9.5 million for general health and safety concerns at state buildings and $10.9 million for repairs at the Texas School for the Deaf.
Other state departments receiving deferred maintenance funding include Transportation ($200 million), Parks and Wildlife ($91 million), Criminal Justice ($60 million), Public Safety ($21 million), Military ($19.5 million), Historical Commission ($825,000).
Deferred maintenance funding, though approved in the budget, will need to be approved by a joint oversight committee made of three House members appointed by the speaker and three Senate members appointed by the lieutenant governor. The members will be chosen by July 1, 2015 and will be tasked with assigning funding and reporting facilities updates to the Legislature.
The budget also contains $107.6 million in miscellaneous funding for the Facilities Commission. The projects include maintenance at the Capitol, Capitol Visitor Center and State History Museum ($15 million); courthouse preservation grants ($20 million); Historical Commission building repairs ($5.1 million); capital improvement grants for Parks and Wildlife ($12.5 million); Alamo master plan at General Land Office ($25 million).
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