Conference committee negotiates capital-bill dollar shifts, adds municipal grant conditions

Senate Institutions and the House Institutions conference committee on May 8 negotiated multiple shifts inside the proposed capital bill, moving small cash items into community grant lines, reallocating bonded and cash major-maintenance funds, and adding language that state dollars be directed to municipally owned or long-term-leased infrastructure only after a grant agreement is in place.

Committee members said they would move a $45,000 cash request for an incubator into the building community grants line so the incubator would apply for grant funding, and accept a $25,000 allocation for fish-and-wildlife walleyes provided new language is added requiring Fish and Wildlife to include propagation funding in future subject requests. The committee also discussed shifting a $35,000 dry-hydrant cash increment and other smaller adjustments into major maintenance and bonds to cover several projects next year.

The committee’s reallocation plan increased the standing major-maintenance cash total from about $600,000 to roughly $645,000 by adding the $45,000 incubator cash. Of that $645,000, conferees agreed to convert $300,000 of bonded major-maintenance money to fully fund five community-grant awards. The remaining $345,000 would be combined with a separate $355,000 pulled from a planned $2,000,000 bonded design-and-construction…