Governor Tony Evers unveiled a capital budget Monday that calls for $4.1 billion in new building projects around the state, with the largest chunk going toward Universities of Wisconsin campuses.
The state would borrow more than $3.8 billion to pay for the overall capital budget, which needs approval from the Legislature. The plan would also pay for material aspects of Evers’ sweeping prison restructuring proposal, and put $1.2 billion toward maintenance projects across state agencies.
In a statement, Evers said the plan was necessary to address infrastructure needs statewide, and would create jobs and stimulate the economy.
Two years ago, Republican lawmakers approved about $2.7 billion in the capital budget. In a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, who co-chair the Joint Finance Committee, said Republicans would “craft a responsible Capital Budget that Wisconsin can afford.”
The UW portion of the capital budget totals about $1.6 billion. Among the projects included is $293 million to demolish the brutalist-style Mosse Humanities Building at UW-Madison, $194 million to finalize the Prairie Springs Science Center and shutter Cowley Hall at UW-La Crosse and $189 million to merge the health sciences program into one building at UW-Milwaukee.
Also in the capital budget is $325 million for the early phases of Evers’ prison overhaul, which calls for closing down the Green Bay Correctional Institution and transforming the Waupun Correctional Institution into a medium-security facility with an emphasis on vocational training. The plan would also shutter the long-troubled Lincoln Hills juvenile campus and construct a new juvenile prison in Dane County.
Evers also called for over $195 million for health services facilities, $137 million for veterans homes and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum and $25 million for renewable energy construction projects at state facilities.