Senate and House capital proposals may fund Grant projects
If the proposal for the state budget goes through negotiations without eliminating funding for it, funding to improve the Port of Mattawa Event Center would help the port provide a more versatile facility for the community. A vote is set for the last day of the Washington legislative session.
COURTESY PHOTO/GOOGLE MAPS
OLYMPIA – While the final budget has not yet been decided, both the Washington House and Senate have released Capital Budget proposals detailing how much they want to allocate to different projects and organizations in each legislative district.
“We have $7.9 billion (in the Capital Budget), but if we can put $500,000 or a million into a park in places like Mattawa – or I have a $500,000 request for a park outside of Ellensburg – that makes a big difference for those communities,” said Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake. “It’s not a big deal when you look at the big picture of the budget but it is a big deal for those communities.”
The request for District 13 has several items specified for Grant County in both the Senate and House, some being the same for both requests and a few being different.
Both the Senate and House total appropriated funds for District 13 allocate $350,000 for a new Royal City Soccer Field through Youth Athletic Facilities funding and $5.5 million for the Moses Lake Readiness Center renovation under the military department allocation. Both proposals include money for the new Samaritan Hospital but differ on the amounts. The House proposal allocates about $8.4 million for the project while the Senate proposal allocates a bit less than $1.5 million.
Warnick said the House and Senate have different budget limitations which is why the numbers on the proposals are different.
“We in the Senate look at a wide variety of projects and we are limited,” said Warnick. “We have stuck pretty close to the local community projects trying to keep it at just $2 million. The House doesn’t have that limitation so they are looking at spending more money than we are overall and they spend it in different places. So I’m hoping that when we get to negotiations I’ll be able to get a little more for the hospital in Moses Lake.”
The Senate proposal also includes $250,000 for the Grant County Courthouse under the Historic County Courthouse Rehabilitation Grant Program.
The House proposal includes $258,000 for the City of Moses Lake’s Larson Playfield Irrigation Conversion plan, $77,000 for a mental health quiet room at the Moses Lake building of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin and $3.8 million for the Radiation Treatment Center currently being constructed by Confluence Health.
“This is not a done deal,” said Rep. Alex Ybarra (R-Quincy). “The Senate and the House are going to negotiate what’s good and what’s bad and it won’t be a done deal til the last day of session because that’s when we have to vote on the budget.”
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