Page 8 - Flathead Beacon // 2.18.15

8 | FEBRUARY 18, 2015 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM Bullock Pushes Build Montana Act in Kalispell
Just
Sayin’...
“The state of Montana can afford a tenth of a percent or two- tenths of a percent tax reduction. It’s time that the workers of this state receive a tax break.”
Kalispell Republican Rep. Keith Regier after proposing a measure to permanently cut income taxes in every bracket by 0.1 percent.
“You pose too great a risk to society to be anywhere else but the Montana State Prison. Good luck to you, son.”
District Judge Ed McLean after sentencing Markus Kaarma, of Missoula, to 70 years in prison for killing a German high school student who was trespassing in his garage.
“Yoga pants should be illegal in public anyway."
Missoula Rep. David Moore after introducing a bill that would strengthen the state's indecent exposure law in response to a group of naked bicyclists who rolled through Missoula in August. Moore later said he was joking. The bill has since been tabled.
Republicans have proposed their own version of the infrastructure plan that splits it into seven different bills
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
Gov. Steve Bullock said that a Repub- lican plan to divide the Build Montana Act into smaller pieces would mean many projects, including some in the Flathead Valley, would go undone.
Bullock was in Kalispell Feb. 10 meet- ing with local school administrators to promote House Bill 5, a nearly $400 mil- lion infrastructure bill that is working its way through the Legislature. The gover- nor maintains the legislation would cre- ate thousands of jobs while repairing the state’s crumbling infrastructure, espe- cially schools.
But Republicans have said the bill is too big and full of frivolous spending. House Republicans have split up the Build Montana Act into seven separate bills and have rejected most of the governor’s pro- posed bonding.
“These funding bills will receive in- dividual, fair hearings, giving Montana’s most critical infrastructure projects the best chance at being funded,” said Eureka Rep. Mike Cuffe.
According to Bullock, about $32 mil- lion in the bill would go toward education projects, $19 million of which would be paid for in bonds and $12 million in cash. Dillon Republican Rep. Jeff Welborn in- troduced the bill earlier this year.
Bullock challenged Republicans to find projects within the Build Montana Act that were frivolous. He also said if op- ponents have issues with some projects within the bill then they should remove those specific projects instead of breaking up the entire legislation.
“Some members of the Legislature have said there is pork in this bill, but I don’t think removing asbestos from schools is a pork project,” Bullock said.
Last year local governments across the
Governor Steve Bullock discusses the Build Montana Act with Flathead Valley superintendents during a meeting at Elrod Elementary School. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
state submitted grant applications for pri- ority projects and every one that met a cer- tain criteria was approved. In the Kalispell area that includes adding classrooms and removing asbestos at Fair-Mont-Egan School and replacing aging steam heat- ing boilers at all of Kalispell’s elementary schools.
West Valley Elementary School has ap- plied for money to outfit its kitchen so it can provide students with breakfast and lunches on site. Superintendent Cal Ket- chumn said a staff member drives 32 miles every day to bring prepared lunches from Evergreen Elementary School to West Valley and then returns all of the trays at the end of the day.
“Academics can’t happen without nu- trition,” he said. “If the students are eating better then they’ll do better in school.”
The projects outlined at the roundta- ble discussion were only a few of the hun- dreds of upgrades Montana’s schools need, according to the Montana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineering. In late 2014, the group gave Montana’s in- frastructure a C-minus in its state report
card. Schools received the lowest grade with a D-minus, in part because 68 per- cent of the state’s education facilities were built before 1970 and 66 percent of them showed signs of damage and wear. The report found that the state would need to spend more than $900 million to repair all of its schools.
In January, one of the authors of the 2014 report card, Melissa Matassa-Stone, said the Build Montana Act set a founda- tion for the state to address its infrastruc- ture needs but it was far short of what is needed to repair everything.
On Feb. 10, Bullock said it would be im- possible for the state to address all of its infrastructure needs. He said that in the coming years, if the state were still in a fiscally sound position, then it would con- sider more infrastructure improvements.
“When we have record low interest rates and we have the fiscal ability (to get these projects done) then we should do that,” Bullock said. “These are meaning- ful investments that will help us today and into the future.”
[email protected]
I want to help make your journey as memorable as your destination.
Proudly serving the Flathead Valley since 1975 with
3 Convenient locations.
Glacier Park Int’l Airport 406-755-7500 Downtown Whitefish 406-862-8170 AMTRAK Whitefish 2988 US HWY 93 South
Brad ”Budget Brad” Cain
Flathead Valley Manager, All Locations
Ask for Brad to receive the special daily rate!
www.budget.com
“
“