Door open on major state infrastructure bond
Governor reiterates a plan to call for billions in infrastructure borrowing. Senate Republican leader says a bond "may make sense."
Posted — Updated"You’re never going to find better interest rates," Cooper told commissioners. "This is the time.”
"If the state’s revenues take a big hit, then a bond may make sense for one-time expenditures like infrastructure projects," Pat Ryan, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, said in an email Thursday. "The Senate will consider the options once our revenue picture becomes clearer."
That may be as close to agreement as the three sides – governor, House and Senate – have been on this issue, at least publicly, in recent years.
“Sen. Berger and the budget chairs felt last year that it made little sense to take on debt when the state was flush with cash," Ryan said. "That’s why a cash-based, pay-as-you-go model was feasible, and a bond issuance would waste money on unnecessary interest payments. We don’t know what the revenue forecast will be for this year."
That revenue forecast has been delayed but will likely come over the next month. The state's routine debt affordability study is also underway, and State Treasurer Dale Folwell said this week that report, laying out state government's borrowing capacity, should be ready by March 1.
Cooper has pitched two major bond packages. The first totals $4.3 billion, which voters would have to approve after the legislature puts it on a statewide ballot. Nearly half of that would go toward building and renovating public schools, with the rest for water and sewer projects, university and community college system projects and $500 million for affordable housing.
The governor also wants to borrow $250 million, which wouldn't necessarily take voter approval, to expand broadband access, particularly in rural areas.
“We need to put a quarter of a billion dollars into broadband access," Cooper told county commissioners.
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