Lawmakers question Hill Farms plans (UPDATE)

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A Republican lawmaker has acknowledged his objections to the state’s plan to spend nearly $197 million replacing WisDOT’s headquarters have as much to do with public perception as budgetary concerns.

State Rep. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, was among three Republican lawmakers who signed their names to a letter (PDF)  Thursday calling into question the state’s plan to replace the Hill Farms building on Madison’s west side with a bigger home for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and other state agencies. The letter, also attributed to state Reps. Joe Sanfelippo, R-West Allis, and David Craig, R-Big Bend, contends Gov. Scott Walker’s administration should not be planning to put up such a large building for WisDOT when officials from the same department are calling for higher taxes and fees to eliminate a projected $750 million deficit in the state’s transportation fund.

The link between the construction plans and the projected shortfall, though, is tenuous. Administration officials have forgone turning immediately to state coffers for the Hill Farms project and instead have asked private developers to front the money.

The plan is to buy the building back, but that will not happen until after the project is complete. According to a schedule assembled by department officials, at least three years will be needed to put up the 600,000-square-foot building and accompanying 1,500-space parking garage called for in state plans.

And the work cannot begin without approval from the state Legislature, which will not reconvene until January. That pushes the completion date out to 2018. The state’s next budget, in which the $750 million deficit is forecast for the transportation fund, will last only through June 2017.

Hutton acknowledged that the bill for the Hill Farms replacement probably will not come due until after lawmakers have come up with a solution for the projected transportation shortfall. He said much of his unease about the project really has to do with the difficulty he has finding a way to justify the project to taxpayers.

“We already have an ask out there for an additional $750 million,” Hutton said. “So how does a building project this big pass the straight-face test for most taxpayers?”

Sanfelippo also said he thinks the public is skeptical of the Hill Farms plan.

“As a representative,” he said, “how am I supposed to be sitting here and saying, ‘We need to raise gas taxes, we need to raise registration fees and do all this stuff, but we are going to need $200 million to give a bunch of bureaucrats a brand new building?’”

The Hill Farms replacement project is likely to affect WisDOT’s budget in at least one way, according to a memo prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. WisDOT, like most agencies, pays rent to the Department of Administration for the space in state buildings.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s memo, those payments probably would have to go up to cover the high cost of the proposed Hill Farms replacement and related parking garage. Still, because of the plan to purchase the new building from a private developer after the construction is complete, most of the costs related to the project would not fall on state coffers until after the next budget.

The opposition to the Hill Farms project is the latest sign that Republicans who control the statehouse and the governor’s office are divided on the state’s building plans. When arguing for putting an additional $1.31 billion toward construction projects for the current budget, Gov. Scott Walker said the state should take advantage of low interest rates and put money toward projects that will create jobs.

Hutton and Sanfelippo said Friday that they were among GOP lawmakers who felt uncomfortable spending so much, particularly with plans to issue an additional $1.14 billion in bonds to pay for approved construction projects. Walker’s fellow Republicans on the state Building Commission also noted that the state’s previous budget put far less money, about $967 million, toward new projects.

Republicans in the state Legislature have centered much of their criticism on the Hill Farms project, with some referring to the proposed replacement as a Taj Mahal. Wanting the administration to reconsider its construction priorities, GOP lawmakers in 2013 passed a provision requiring Walker administration officials reduce the total amount of bonding approved for the current budget by $250 million.

Walker vetoed that requirement, saying he did not want to box in state officials. Still, he said he shared lawmakers’ goal of reducing bonding by $250 million.

Following the predictions that the Hill Farms building would need $38 million in repairs in coming years unless rebuilt, the replacement project was included in the budget the governor signed June 30, 2013. The state Department of Administration posted a request for proposals on its website in October 2014 seeking private developers who might be interested in undertaking the work.

State officials were scheduled to meet with four development teams during the week of Dec. 15. An email attributed to DOA spokesman Cullen Werwie did not confirm if the meetings took place, but, according to the email, state officials are proceeding with a “project enumerated by the Legislature in the previous capital budget.”

Sanfelippo said he voted for that budget but did not like everything in it. With a projected deficit in the state’s transportation fund, he said, maybe it’s time for lawmakers to reconsider their plans.

“Even though this thing was in the budget, they haven’t signed the contract yet,” Sanfelippo said. “We should take this opportunity. If we don’t, we are fools.”