By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri lawmakers are debating the state spending plan for the next fiscal year, with the deadline to approve a budget fast approaching.
State Senator Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville says a major debate will center on Governor Parson’s proposal to borrow $350 million for bridge repairs. The House approved only $100 million from General Revenue funds for road projects.
“I think there’s going to be a pretty significant debate over how we go about doing the infrastructure funding. Everybody agrees, regardless of partisanship, that there is a problem, that our roads and bridges are crumbling and that we need to do something to fix them,” Luetkemeyer tells St. Joseph Post.
Luetkemeyer says everyone in the legislature agrees roads and bridges need to be repaired.
“This is an economic development issue. It’s an issue of Missouri’s competitiveness and we need to fix it,” according to Luetkemeyer. There’s just a disagreement on how exactly we spend the money and the mechanism for actually funding those infrastructure improvements that we all agree are so vitally important.”
The House approved its version of the $30 billion state budget and sent it to the Senate, which should begin floor debate on the budget soon.
The deadline for the legislature to approve the budget is May 10th.