Culver's Bonds Aren't Bottomless

Gov. Chet Culver has been out selling his plan to float $700 million worth of bonds to pay for infrastructure projects. And a big part of that sales pitch has involved traveling the state to dangle the possibility of big bucks for hometown projects in front of wide-eyed local leaders.

He's been to Council Bluffs and the Quad-Cities, CR and elsewhere. Today, he dropped by a Board of Regents planning meeting in Ankeny to suggest that money from his fund could help replace flood-damaged Hancher Auditorium.

There's nothing wrong with the governor selling his plan. It is the centerpiece of his legislative agenda, after all.

But we should all remember that $700 million can't buy everything.

And that's especially true when $700 million is really $543,988, 380. Culver makes no secret in budget documents  that a $156 million share of his Rebuild Iowa Fund will already be spoken for to pay for a long list of state projects left over from the old infrastructure fund, which was paid for by tobacco legal settlement dollars.

That list includes items such as $47.5 million for expansion of the women's correctional institution at Mitchellville, $8 million for the agricultural exhibition center at the Iowa State Fair, $15 million for major maintenance to state facilities, $6.9 million for Capitol restoration, $20.5 million for the Veteran's Home, $8.6 million for lake dredging, etc.

All worthy projects. But again, it shows how fast the $700 million can disappear.  More than 20 percent of the fund is taken before the ink dries on Culver's signature. And Iowans need to keep that in mind when the governor comes to a town near you and dangles shiny dollars.

Here's the whole list of what gets funded off the top:

Total Resources Available 700,000,000

Expenditures

Appropriations

Department of Education

Community Colleges Infrastructure 2,000,000

Department of Transportation

Commercial Aviation Infrastructure 1,500,000

Public Transit Fund Deposit 2,200,000

Department of Corrections - Capitals

CBC #1 Waterloo Residential Expansion 6,000,000

CBC #3 Sioux City Residential Expansion 5,300,000

CBC #8 Ottumwa Residential Expansion 4,100,000

CBC Davenport Facility 2,100,000

Iowa Correctional Institution for Women Expansion 47,500,000

Mt. Pleasant/Rockwell City Kitchen Remodeling 12,500,000

State Fair - Capitals

Agriculture Exhibition Center 8,000,000

Department of Administrative Services - Capitals

Major Maintenance 15,000,000

Terrace Hill Maintenance 769,543

DHS-CCUSO Renovation 829,000

Capitol Complex Electrical Distribution 850,000

Capitol Interior and Exterior Restoration 6,900,000

Central Energy Plant Addition/Improvement 623,000

Hoover Bldg HVAC Improvements 1,500,000

Complex Utility Tunnel System 1,000,000

Hoover Building Security/Fire Walls Protection 165,000

Mercy Capital Building Purchase 3,900,000

Department of Natural Resources - Capitals

Volga River Rec. Area Infrastructure Impr 750,000

Carter Lake Improvements 500,000

Lake Restoration and Dredging 8,600,000

Board of Regents - Capitals

Iowa Public Radio 2,000,000

Veterans Affairs - Capitals

Iowa Veterans Home Master Plan 20,555,329

Department for the Blind - Capitals

Dormitory Remodeling 869,748

Total Appropriations 156,011,620

Remaing amount available for distribution 543,988,380