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Millions in Louisiana infrastructure funds remain unspent as projects stall
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BATON ROUGE - State lawmakers have allocated millions of dollars over the years to improve infrastructure around the state, but state leaders say many projects haven't even started, leaving money sitting unspent.
Red tape has held back construction work, and while money is available for local governments to spend, sometimes it's forgotten about.
House Bill 2 is presented annually and is also called the Capital Outlay bill. Some compare it to the state's to-do list. Every year, legislators set aside money to pay for roads, bridges and even to repair the state capitol building. These are often projects that could take years to complete, and each year, more projects are added to the list.
Roger Husser serves as Assistant Commissioner for Facility Planning and Control at Louisiana's Division of Administration, the group that oversees state spending. In some cases, state spending seems to be at a standstill, and many projects awarded money in past legislative sessions have not moved forward. That means more than $45 million in allocated tax dollars remain locked up, unspent.
"We've been working for three years now to make huge improvements," Husser said in an interview outside of legislative committee rooms.
Husser acknowledges the backlog and said that oftentimes, local governments that don't actually begin working on a project can tie up allocated money. Husser said his office is working to clear the logjam.
"The dollars that the state appropriated are tied up and not available for other projects," Husser said.
State Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Denham Springs, says money may be set aside for a project, but if movement isn't ever made and leadership changes, then priorities can change, and it's possible for a project to be forgotten about entirely.
"It falls off the entire capital outlay list," Wilder said.
Lawmakers told the Division of Administration on Monday to create a list of projects from previous years that have carried over. That way, the state can organize its priorities and make sure money allocated by the legislature gets spent on the projects lawmakers want.
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