| Funding for $25 billion Illinois Works capital construction program still major roadblock |
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Created: 5/12/2008 | Updated: 5/21/2008
By DOUG WILSON
Herald-Whig Senior Writer
A deputy director at the Illinois Department of Transportation who spoke in Quincy Monday said the biggest roadblock to a capital bill is the question of how to fund it.
That turned out to be his biggest roadblock with the local audience, too.
Gene Marks got lots of questions and comments after he talked about the $25 billion capital construction program, known as Illinois Works, proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The proposal would be financed with $11 billion in state funds, $9 billion in federal matching funds and funds from other local sources.
The state money would come primarily from leasing 80 percent of the Lottery for 50 years — a move the administration says will raise between $10 billion and $12 billion. About $7 billion of that would go directly into construction. The rest would go into a fund that would be used exclusively to support education.
The state would raise the remaining $4 billion for capital construction by issuing bonds that would be repaid with annual transfers from the Road Fund and other sources.
“Leasing the lottery gets us the money for the short term. In my opinion, we need to expand gambling, too, because of the need for ongoing revenue,” said Marks, a deputy director for the division of public and intermodal transportation.
Minutes later when he asked for questions, former state Sen. Laura Kent Donahue said the sale of the lottery is a gimmick that won’t solve the state’s financial problems.
“Next year we’ll have the same problem and we will not have” the asset of a lottery bringing in millions of dollars, Donahue said.
Other questioners did not like the idea of a gambling expansion, noting that it relies on Illinoisans losing money at casinos.
Later, as Marks spoke with reporters, he repeated that almost everyone agrees there is a need for a capital construction bill. The disagreements start when people talk about how to pay for it.
Marks focused more on telling members of the Quincy Noon Kiwanis Club and the Quincy Area Chamber of Commerce why the state needs a capital bill. He said the nine years without a capital bill have left the state with big problems.
The capital bill now under consideration calls for:
• $14.4 billion for roads and bridges.
• $4.9 billion for schools, where 13,000 projects are needed.
• $3.3 billion for public transit, passenger rail and airport work.
• $1.1 billion for environmental work, energy and technology.
• $1 billion for economic development programs.
• $600 million for the expansion or rehabilitation of state facilities.
Glenn Poshard, co-chairman of the Illinois Works Coalition — a panel appointed by Blagojevich to promote the legislation — said a $30 billion capital plan would either create or lead to retention of about 700,000 jobs.
Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Mount Sterling, said legislators are hearing “bits and pieces” of the capital program negotiations. She has questions whether a 50-year lease of a majority of the lottery or the expansion of gambling are good ideas during an economic slowdown.
“There’s a consensus that we need it. It always comes back to how we’re going to pay for it,” Tracy said.
Marks said the capital bill needs to be passed this year so the state does not miss out on another construction season.
“This has to be a bipartisan effort,” Marks said.
He pointed out that Poshard, a longtime Democrat in Congress and now president of Southern Illinois University, is co-chairing the Illinois Works Coalition with former Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert, a Republican from Yorkville.
— dwilson@whig.com/221-3372
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