State Senator Andre Jaque is voicing his concerns over Governor Tony Evers’ UW spending proposal.
The proposal was put before the Building Commission earlier this week, but it was rejected by Sen. Jacque and other Republicans on the commission.
In his statement, Sen. Jacque noted that bids for a project at UW Eau Claire came in over 20% lower than what was anticipated in March, which came as a shock to him as there was no indication that change was coming.
He claimed the Department of Administration “and the UW have been working for months on plans to re-spend the money, but no one in the legislature was consulted until now.”
Jacque also said he was “even more stunned that we are now immediately being asked to spend all of this cash right away on a Christmas tree of items without that discussion with the legislature that appropriated the funds in the first place, in order to keep that money from potentially being saved up or returned to the taxpayers.”
Jacque noted that he reached out to the Fiscal Bureau, Building Commission staff, and the UW to provide a list of projects that had been bid under projections, and four of them came back as such.
He explained that the smaller bids were due to “substantial re-scoping downward because the project would have been over the allocation, and then adding back items to the project after the bids came back.”
He continued, saying, “I am alarmed that approving this item could establish a precedent and an incentive for pre-bid estimates to come in higher to create cash piñatas for other agency projects.” Sen Jacque also said, “The adage about not leaving money lying around the Capitol or politicians will spend it is certainly well-earned, and passing this motion today would only have added to that reputation.”
