City Projects Win Support Senate Panel Approves Funding For 3 Of 4 Major Budget Requests

A Senate committee Monday recommended spending millions of dollars on all but one of Spokane’s major budget requests this year.

The committee would spend $17 million for moving state offices into one building in Spokane, $3.3 million for pre-design of a second building at the Riverpoint higher education campus and $4 million for the Pacific Science Center, with possibly half of that spent in Spokane.

A request from the Cheney Cowles Museum for $2 million toward expansion was once again passed over.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee’s proposed 1995-97 capital budget would spend $795 million - $16 million less than the 1993-95 capital budget.

It includes $385 million for K-12 school construction, $208.8 million for four-year universities, $94.5 million for community and technical colleges and $33 million for branch campuses.

The Democratic-controlled Senate, so far, is being more generous to Spokane than the Republican House.

When the House unveiled its proposed capital budget last month, city leaders were surprised to find it contained just $60,000 for Spokane projects, with every other major budget request denied.

That was despite the East Side’s presence on the capital budget committee, including Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Colville, and Rep. Jean Silver, R-Spokane.

Silver also leads the powerful House Appropriations Committee, so expectations were high for the city.

The House later added $3.3 million for the Riverpoint campus to its capital budget, passed last week.

But half of the money was included only by cutting spending for maintenance at other Eastern Washington universities.

Larry Ganders, lobbyist for Washington State University, said Monday he was relieved to see the Senate’s proposed budget.

“You don’t sell short maintenance of existing buildings to build new ones. That’s not good public policy.”

Terry Novak, acting director of the Joint Center for Higher Education said, “We’re glad we got something in there … finally.”

Nancy Goodspeed, campaign consultant for the Pacific Science Center, said the possibility of $2 million for locating a center in Riverfront Park was good news - but still only half of what’s needed.

“Our contract with the city requires that we raise $10 million,” she said. “If we don’t achieve that, we will need to negotiate if we still have a feasible project. A lot depends on what the final word is out of Olympia.”

The Cheney Cowles Museum reduced its request from $2 million to $500,000 to kick off a planned $50 million expansion, said Glenn Mason, executive director of the museum. But the Senate still didn’t go for the museum’s request.

Mason said plans call for more than tripling the museum’s size, to make room for an important collection of Native American art.

The museum is going to keep trying, Mason said. “Maybe this isn’t our year. But patience and persistence are the key.”

The budget proposed by an informal subcommittee of the Senate Ways and Means Committee still has a long way to go. It faces approval by the full committee and the full Senate this week.

Then the capital budget will be scrutinized in conference committee, where differences will be hammered out.

The full House and Senate give final approval to the conference committee agreement, voting it up or down without amendment.