Edwards: Spend surplus on roads, colleges, local projects
BATON ROUGE - Gov. John Bel Edwards wants to spend two-thirds of a $123 million Louisiana surplus on road and bridge work, college building repairs and local construction projects around the state.
The Democratic governor released his proposal for divvying up the cash Wednesday. Lawmakers will determine how to use the dollars left over from the last budget year in their current legislative session.
Under Louisiana's constitution, $12 million of the surplus must pay down retirement debt and nearly $31 million must be carved off the top for the state's "rainy day" fund.
That leaves about $80 million left for spending. The dollars are restricted to one-time expenses.
Edwards' plan includes 23 transportation projects, 199 small-dollar construction projects, a block of money for college campus maintenance, community water projects and local government aid.