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State approves funding to complete Riverside School for the Deaf projects | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California
A state board Monday approved full funding for a pair of new buildings and cooling system at Riverside's School for the Deaf, weeks after California's budget problems stalled some of the work.
The four-member state Public Works Board voted unanimously to issue an estimated $108.9 million in bonds to pay for the projects.
Monday's vote comes several weeks after construction crews halted work on a $70 million dormitory and $8 million multipurpose center at the Riverside campus after a freeze on short-term loans for public-works projects.
Officials said at the time that the state's budget problems and the country's tight credit market risked the solvency of the Pooled Money Investment Account.
Construction recently resumed with the expectation of Monday's action, said Allen Young, construction and maintenance supervisor for the state education department's special schools division.
The new dormitory, scheduled to be complete next February, is the first of four phases to replace all of the dormitories at the campus at Horace Street and Arlington Avenue. The buildings date from the early 1950s.
The multipurpose building should be finished by December 2009, Young said.
The cooling system will replace window-mounted units around the campus. It should be done next month, he said.
The dormitory and multipurpose building were included in December and January orders to halt short-term loans for more than 5,000 bond-funded projects worth about $18 billion.
Officials began to ease the freeze earlier this month, after the Legislature approved about $41 billion in higher taxes, spending cuts and borrowing that solved the state's immediate cash-flow needs.
The School for the Deaf borrowing has been on a fast track for several weeks.
Officials had decided that the borrowing for the new dormitory and multipurpose room could piggyback on a previously scheduled bond sale for the chiller plant bond.
Monday's action is good news for the thousands of projects still waiting for money from the pooled-money account, said Mike Genest, director of the state Department of Finance.
A state board Monday approved full funding for a pair of new buildings and cooling system at Riverside's School for the Deaf, weeks after California's budget problems stalled some of the work.
The four-member state Public Works Board voted unanimously to issue an estimated $108.9 million in bonds to pay for the projects.
Monday's vote comes several weeks after construction crews halted work on a $70 million dormitory and $8 million multipurpose center at the Riverside campus after a freeze on short-term loans for public-works projects.
Officials said at the time that the state's budget problems and the country's tight credit market risked the solvency of the Pooled Money Investment Account.
Construction recently resumed with the expectation of Monday's action, said Allen Young, construction and maintenance supervisor for the state education department's special schools division.
The new dormitory, scheduled to be complete next February, is the first of four phases to replace all of the dormitories at the campus at Horace Street and Arlington Avenue. The buildings date from the early 1950s.
The multipurpose building should be finished by December 2009, Young said.
The cooling system will replace window-mounted units around the campus. It should be done next month, he said.
The dormitory and multipurpose building were included in December and January orders to halt short-term loans for more than 5,000 bond-funded projects worth about $18 billion.
Officials began to ease the freeze earlier this month, after the Legislature approved about $41 billion in higher taxes, spending cuts and borrowing that solved the state's immediate cash-flow needs.
The School for the Deaf borrowing has been on a fast track for several weeks.
Officials had decided that the borrowing for the new dormitory and multipurpose room could piggyback on a previously scheduled bond sale for the chiller plant bond.
Monday's action is good news for the thousands of projects still waiting for money from the pooled-money account, said Mike Genest, director of the state Department of Finance.