DALLAS - Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan is expected to decide this week when the state will ask voters to authorize issuing $250 million of bonds to expand state prisons and to build and renovate higher education facilities, a state official said yesterday.
Mark Ward, Missouri's director of budget and planning, said the governor could announce today or tomorrow whether the general obligation bond issue will go before voters in a special election Aug. 2 or the regular election Nov. 8.
"There is some need to get started soon on the prison construction," Ward said, because one women's lock-up was destroyed by floods last year and youth services facilities are overcrowded.
The governor's decision would follow the state legislature's overwhelming approval earlier this year of House Joint Resolution 46, which calls for a vote on the bond issuance.
If approved, the $250 million of bonds would be issued from fiscal 1995 to fiscal 1997. The first $75 million would probably be sold in January or February, Ward said
He said he expects the voters to approve the issue. "There is some reluctance in the state to issue debt, but we need the prison space and youth services and higher education projects. At $250 million, it is a fairly modest amount of debt, "Ward said.
He said the state, which has a triple-A rating from all three bond rating agencies, needs less than 2% of its revenues to pay for debt service on GO bonds.
If the $250 million of bonds is authorized, $134.2 million would be earmarked for higher education projects, and the remaining moneys would go for prison and youth services facilities expansion.
Correctional projects and proposed spending are:
* $88.8 million for new prisons or additions to existing prisons. That would include replacing and more than doubling the beds at the Renz Correctional Facility for women that was destroyed by floods last year in Jefferson City. A new, 1,000-bed prison would be built within a 75-mile radius of St. Louis at an estimated cost of $56 million, Ward said. Also, prison space should be added to the 16,200 current beds, which are becoming inadequate as the inmate population grows by an average of 160 inmates month. Locations and specific plans have not been detailed yet, Ward said.
* $7.3 million to replace the Kansas City Honor Center for adult offenders on work release programs. The current facility is in a rented space and the money would be used to acquire or construct a better building.
* 19.7 million to provide about 200 more beds for disturbed youth throughout the state, including three facilities in St. Louis, two in the southwestern part of Missouri, one in Kansas City, and one in the central part of the state. The beds would amount to about a 40% increase in capacity, Ward said.
In higher education, plans call for almost 20 building or renovation projects at universities and colleges throughout the state. Some of the larger projects are:
* $21.7 million for a science and technology building at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
* 15.8 million for a business acquisition for the University of Missouri at St. Louis.
* 12.3 million for a general classroom building at southeast Missouri State University.
* $14 million for a general classroom building at Southwest Missouri State University.
The governor initially made the bond proposals earlier this year when he proposed his $12.4 billion fiscal 1995 budget. The budget, which will take effect July 1, represents a $1 billion or 9% increase over this fiscal year budget.
