Treen Adds Strand, Med Center, Bossier Funds

              Journal June 6, 1981 Treen Adds Strand, Med
Center, Bossier Funds
By RONNI PATRIQUIN
Journal Capital Bureau
BATON ROUGE - More than $5
million for the Strand Theatre, the
Shreveport LSU Medical Center and a
solid waste transfer facility in Bossier
is included in the expanded state
capital construction budget which
Gov. Dave Treen plans to present to
the House Ways and Means Commit-tee
on Monday.
The governor is proposing that
slightly more than $100 million in
state and local projects be added to
the "skeleton" $834 million capital
outlay bill which his legislative
floorleaders introduced on May 5.
The new projects are additions, the
sources said, noting that all of the
Shreveport area projects listed in
Treen's original program, including
the funds for the Medical Center's
burn and trauma unit, are still in the
bill.
Most of the new projects will be
financed by general obligation bonds,
sources close to the governor said,
noting that the new proposal does not
contain any recommendation for
spending the $235 million Enhanced
Mineral Trust Fund. Some cash expen-ditures,
however, may be recom-mended.
Appropriations from the trust,
which Treen believes should be spent
rather than invested in interest-bear-ing
accounts, will not be made,
sources said, before lawmakers return
to Baton Rouge for a special
legislative session this fall.
Although Treen was still working
early today on his expanded proposal,
high-ranking administration sources
said he definitely has decided to in-clude
$1.8 million for the Strand on a
50-50 matching basis, $2,985 million to
modify the "J" wing at the LSU
Medical Center Hospital and $500,000
to cover half the cost of the proposed
Bossier City solid waste transfer
facility. The plan also is expected to
include $1 million to renovate the
Orpheum Theater in New Orleans, but
that appropriation will require the
same 50-50 match as the Strand.
Other Northwest Louisiana area
projects may be recommended in the
new construction plan, but sources
said late Friday that decisions on
those other projects were not yet final.
Although some other of the so-called
local projects, including monies
for parish jails which are under
federal court orders, are expected to
be included in the governor's announ-cement,
sources predicted those local
items will make up only a small part
of the $100 million. Monies for ports,
universities, juvenile detention cen-ters
and parks and wildlife facilities
are high on the governor's priority list
for the expanded program.
The original $834 million proposal,
which drew a storm of legislative
criticism, included $501.6 million in
cash from the state general fund,
matching federal grants, federal re-venue
sharing and self-generated re-venues.
The recommended bond por-tion
of the original bill totaled $332.6
million. No non-state projects were
included in the original legislation.
To hold off the storm of protest over
when the original plan was introduced
without any of the so-called local
items, Treen's floorleaders promised
the additions which will be unveiled on
Monday. Those additions, however,
were expected shortly after the
legislative break which ended May 18.
In recent weeks, legislators in both
the House and Senate have bemoaned
Treen's slowness in making capital
outlay budget decisions.
Friday, Ways and Means Commit-tee
Chairman Rep. John Alario of
Westwego said he hoped to have the
new proposal before the meeting Mon-day
so that his committee members
could begin looking it over.
It is vital, Alario said, that the
capital outlay bill begin its cum-bersome
legislative journey as soon as
Please See BUDGET, 7-A