ST. PAUL – The Minnesota House on Monday approved a capital investment package on a bipartisan 84-39 vote featuring $825 million in general obligation bonds to fund construction projects throughout the state. More than two-thirds of the bonding is dedicated to bricks-and-mortar projects, such as roads and bridges, water infrastructure and statewide asset preservation.
Included in the legislation is funding for two projects in the Albert Lea area.
The first comes from a bill authored by Rep. Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea, to fund over $10 million for Riverland Community College. The funding would improve facilities and move auto service and diesel programs to Albert Lea from the Austin campus, allowing for better integration of those programs and use of educational equipment. Also included in the bill is $120 million for the Public Facilities Authority. Part of this funding would be used to finish the Stables area water and sewer project in Albert Lea. The 2017 bonding bill funded the sewer portion of the project, and this year’s would complete the water portion.
“I’m thrilled to see such bipartisan support for our bonding bill, and extremely happy to see two of our local projects included in our proposal,” said Bennett. “Funding to improve Riverland and complete the Stables area water and sewer project are so important for our area. I’m hopeful our bonding bill will continue through the legislative process and be signed into law by the governor.”
The bonding portion of the bill includes:
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$364 million for asset preservation such as state-owned buildings
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$120 million for road and transportation infrastructure
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$153 million for water and conservation projects
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$188 million for “other” projects, such as:
With funding such as trunk highway bonds included, the bill provides an additional $254 million for transportation, another $10 million for water/conservation and $127 million in other funding for a total of $1.2 billion.
The bill provides $41 million in funding for the construction of veterans homes in Preston, Bemidji, and Montevideo through the same funding mechanism proposed in the House’s omnibus state government finance package. The reserve account for the Vikings stadium is running an excess, expected to reach $58 million by the end of the current biennium and grow to $120.2 million at the end of next biennium. This bill would allocate a portion of that funding for constructing veterans homes in each of the aforementioned cities.
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