The Tax Man Cometh

Gov. Quinn signs $31 billion construction plan

Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday approved the state's first construction spending plan in over a decade -- a $31 billion infusion expected to create thousands of jobs and help rebuild the state's crumbling infrastructure that will be paid for through new and higher taxes and a vast expansion of legalized gambling.

Under the tax and fee increases, a bottle of wine will cost 13 cents more, a six pack of beer 2.5 cents more, and renewing your driver's license will increase from $10 to $30.

The law won wide praise, including among bicycling enthusiasts, frustrated commuters and school officials. But it drew the ire of gambling opponents who say many people will lose large sums of money now that the state has made it legal to bet on the video poker machines found in many bars, restaurants and truck stops.

"This is a crucial economic recovery initiative that will generate what's needed most in Illinois: jobs, jobs, jobs," Quinn said in a statement. "Illinois Jobs Now! provides many long-awaited improvements to our bridges and roads, transportation networks, schools and communities," he wrote, referring to the bill's name.

Senate President John Cullerton said past failures to pass a capital spending bill symbolized political dysfunction in Springfield. The new bill, he said, should prove to be a bipartisan job creator.

"Legislators of every ideological stripe realized that it was time to get Illinois working again by creating jobs, stabilizing the economy and modernizing our state's crumbling infrastructure," he said in a prepared statement.

The Bill includes $14.3 billion for work on roads and bridges, $7 billion for other transportation projects such as high-speed rail, $3.6 billion for primary education _ most of it for building schools _ and $1.5 billion for higher education.

A spokeswoman for the governor said the construction plan will support 439,000 jobs over the next six years. She said she wasn't immediately sure how many new jobs that is expected to include.

Illinois has not had a major government construction initiative since Illinois FIRST more than 10 years ago. The state since then has not been able to keep up with demand for new or rebuilt highways, bridges, schools and public transportation systems.

Legislators say this construction program allocates money more responsibly than past public works programs.

The vast majority of the money will be spent according to existing formulas _ so much for each region of the state, so much for this kind of road or that kind of bridge. Every community will compete according to clear rules and criteria.

About $500 million has been set aside for legislators to divvy up for their pet projects, but all those projects are supposed to be spelled out rather than kept secret. A review shows legislators directed most of the money to roads, parks and other routine projects.

In addition, Quinn has discretion over about $1 billion. It's not clear how he intends to spend it.

Most of the money, though, will be spent on projects around the state, some long awaited.

The University of Illinois' flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign now has $57.3 million to gut and renovate Lincoln Hall.

It was built in 1911 and, over the years, virtually every student at the U of I has had at least one class there, said Randy Kangas, the university's vice president for planning and budgeting.

But the building has never had a major overhaul, he said.

"You hear horror stories about lecturers on the main lecture hall with squirrels or raccoons running behind them," he said. "The infrastructure is so old -- the wiring is all 50, 60, 70 years old. We have water infiltration in parts of the building."

The campus will also get another $60 million in long-promised state funding for the construction of a new supercomputer facility on campus that will, for a time, be home to the world's fastest computer.

The bill also includes tens of millions of dollars for the Department of Natural Resources, including $17.8 million for bicycle trails around the state.

That's good news for the state's roughly 4 million cyclists, but also for state tourism, said Ed Barsotti, executive director of the League of Illinois Bicyclists.

Cyclists look to Wisconsin and Michigan for places to ride because many Illinois trails need work, he said.

Two if the state's better trails -- the lengthy I&M Canal and Hennepin Canal trails -- are closed in places because of their conditions, he said.

"The DNR had a rough go of it in the Blagojevich years," Barsotti said. "A number of trails in the state are in disrepair because money was not going to them."

Illinois will pay for the public works program by selling bonds -- in effect, borrowing money and repaying it over 20 or 30 years. The money to repay that debt will come from a variety of taxes and fees, plus a major gambling expansion.

Drivers will pay more for licenses and registrations. The tax on beer, wine and hard liquor is going up. Sales tax will be charged on more items, including iced tea.

And people will now be able to gamble legally on the video poker machines found in so many bars, something that critics call the "crack cocaine" of gambling. They say people will be able to lose large sums of money in taverns, restaurants and truck stops all across Illinois.

Gambling opponents had hoped to talk Quinn out of legalizing video gambling to pay for the construction bill.

Now they say they'll turn to Illinois' towns and cities, which under the new law can choose to keep video gambling illegal in their jurisdictions.

"We've already sent out like 150 letters to mayors throughout the state, asking the mayors to ban the video poker machines," said Anita Bedell, executive director of Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems.

So far, she said, none have responded.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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