Capital Spending Bill Meeting in Springfield
Monday evening I attended the Capital Roundtable Discussion held in Springfield by State Representatives Brauer and Poe and Senator Larry Bomke. A series of speakers talked about projects in the area that they'd like to see funded and the backlog of underfunded improvements.
Mayor Davlin spoke about several projects around Springfield before Cheryl Wise spoke about needs in the School District. I think it was Poe who brought up the disadvantage district 186 has with property tax revenues since state buildings are exempt from the tax. Various other labor, business and community leaders spoke.
I spoke for the Sierra Club about the need for open space funding in the capital budget. Past capital improvement plans like Illinois First included conservation and open space funding, but whether that will be including in this one is up in the air. Raymond Poe said that he has received more letters in his office about open space funding than any other issue.
Recent resolutions calling for conservation funding in the budget have received widespread bipartisan support, including Brauer and Poe adding themselves as co-sponsors. State legislators will be hearing more about this during the citizen environmental lobby day being held by several statewide environmental organizations Wednesday.