Public works staff calls for prison construction

The Public Works Board manager and his staff have recommended prison projects get nearly half the state's total spending for construction, maintenance and planning over the next two years.

The total package to be voted on by the board Friday calls for a total of $754 million in Capital Improvement Projects - $644.6 million of it in new construction.

The big loser, if the manager's recommendations are adopted Friday, will be the university system, which had, by itself, requested $600 million in funding.

The seriously overcrowded prison system occupies five of the top seven priorities on the proposed construction list. The 400-bed addition to the women's prison ($60.7 million), two housing units with 336 more cells for High Desert Prison ($51.7 million) and construction of completely new conservation camps at Indian Springs, Jean and Stewart in Carson City come to a total of $267.7 million.

When $34.7 million in maintenance projects plus $7.5 million to start planning Nevada's eighth major prison are added on, the Department of Corrections is on the list for a total more than $312 million.

That doesn't include the $48.7 million to build a 50-bed forensic mental health facility in Las Vegas - essentially a prison for criminal defendants who have been judged mentally incompetent.

That would bring total spending on prison facilities to $360 million in the coming biennium.

The university system placed 10 of its construction projects totaling $91.2 million in the top 20. Six of those, however, are fittings, furnishings and equipment to make major projects from the past six years operational - including the Reno campus's new library and the UNLV Science, Engineering and Technology Building. Between just those two, FF&E totals $40 million.

A joint-use recreation center with Carson City on the Western Nevada Community College campus is not on the list of recommended projects. However, $3.7 million to help WNCC meet disabled access requirements ranked 24th.

Also missing from the list is the $217 million requested by the Board of Regents to start work on the multi-campus Health Sciences Center project.

The top priority construction project recommended by PWB's staff is $3 million to complete disabled access to the state museum in Carson City, followed by an $11.5 million infusion to complete the Las Vegas Springs Preserve Museum.

The board, which consists of Director of Administration Andrew Clinger and several appointees from engineering, architectural professions and the general public, is expected to largely stick with the recommendations made by staff.

The plan will then be presented to Gov. Kenny Guinn who will make the final changes before the list is submitted to the 2007 Legislature, as well as determine how to pay for whatever he proposes.

Guinn has an estimated $200 million in bonding capacity available each year of the coming biennium. In addition, he has a growing budget surplus which could exceed $500 million by the end of the fiscal year.

But there are many other proposals seeking to dip into the surplus including those calling for general fund money to fund highway construction particularly in Southern Nevada.

• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.