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Budget talks break down on “construction reform”
Efforts to reach agreement on a plan to fill an $851 million state budget hole broke down Wednesday, Dec. 2, over a proposal to overhaul how the state awards billions of dollars in construction projects, including those at state-supported universities.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said Senate Republicans want to include “construction reform” in the bill that also would delay for two years the last of five 4.2 percent personal income tax cuts.
Overhauling how contracts are awarded is a needed part of a long-term process to improve state finances, said Harris. Getting the bill passed with construction reform is the right thing to do for “this great state,” Harris said.
He and Senate President Pro Tem Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, said they understood that the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus had a problem with the construction reform proposal. The two Republicans said that they hoped to work out the problem, possibly on Thursday.
However, Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard, and Sen. Fred Strahorn, D-Dayton, said the entire Senate Democratic caucus, not just the black caucus, have concerns with putting construction reform in the bill to fix the budget.
There is not even a bill drafted on construction reform and the plan should work its way through the legislative process, they said. It should be considered separately from the plan to fill the budget hole, they said.
“It seems to me that the funding for education is being held hostage to somebody’s desire to have construction reform,” Cafaro said.
Unless agreement is reached on how to fill the budget hole, cuts would have to be made to K-12 education.
The construction overhaul proposal is based on a report from a panel commissioned by Gov. Ted Strickland that said the changes could save money and get contracts completed sooner. The changes would allow the hiring of construction managers earlier in the process and expand their roles and change how risks involved in projects are shared, among other things.
Harris said Ohio State University President Gordon Gee said that the reforms could save $100 million on just one project.
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Comments
By null
December 3, 2009 7:26 AM | Link to this
The first thing they should do is get rid of the Construction managers and save 15% of the cost of construction
By emperorlotku
December 2, 2009 9:52 PM | Link to this
Construction reform is the first thing the State legislature should tackle. Projects are now handled by CYA procedures instead of getting the job done. More man hours spent by lawyers than construction workers. More mountains of paperwork created than actual dirt moved. Read a set of specifications from any construction project and you’ll wonder if the architects are actually lawyers. Try getting cooperation from building inspection departments in Montgomery County and you’ll wonder how they ever were possibly qualified to review blueprints. All of these CYA mentalities drive up project costs by millions of dollars. Taxpayers deserve better.
By what??
December 2, 2009 8:43 PM | Link to this
“The changes could save money and get contracts completed sooner.” Thank you Fred Stahorn for protecting Ohio taxpayers from any changes that would benefit Ohio taxpayers. USELESS.