Avoid pitfalls on public projects

By Eric Grasberger
Dolan Media Newswires
Portland, Ore. — There is a world of difference between bidding on public projects and on private ones.
Public projects and those paid for with stimulus money will provide at least some relief to the struggling construction industry in 2010. Newcomers and experienced contractors alike should consider the following tips and traps [...]

School districts resist stimulus from bonds

Published: August 10, 2009
Tags: bonding, La Crosse, school construction, school district, stimulus, Sun Prairie

Paul Snyder
paul.snyder@dailyreporter.com
Gun-shy administrators might undermine a federal stimulus program that encourages school construction by helping districts pay down debt.
Some district leaders say they gladly are accepting a piece of $125 million in no-interest bonds but are reluctant to invest the savings in new projects.
“The climate out there is terrible and with the cuts made in [...]

Counties wrestle with stimulus temptation

Published: July 17, 2009
Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, bonding, development, recovery zone, stimulus

Paul Snyder
paul.snyder@dailyreporter.com
Debt-shy Wisconsin counties are cautiously considering federal stimulus-backed bonding for projects on land that qualifies as a recovery zone.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act lets counties and municipalities declare economic recovery zones, which are areas dealing with high unemployment or poverty rates and little to no development. The local governments can then use federal [...]

Roadwork grows state deficit woes

Published: July 9, 2009
Tags: bonding, deficit, gas tax, oil franchise fee, roadwork, state budget, tolls
Comments: 1

Paul Snyder
paul.snyder@dailyreporter.com
The state’s road map to paying for highway construction during the next two years will drive up the budget deficit the Legislature spent months trying to close.
Jon Dyck, a fiscal analyst with the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, said the state will be on the hook for 10 to 20 years paying off the $204.7 million [...]