Capital Budget

There's so much to criticize about the capital budget.

You could start with the tens of thousands of dollars going to projects that, for me, are marginal state priorities, like artificial turf on high school football fields in Anchorage.

Or you could point to the eleventh hour at which all the decisions were made and wonder just how clear-headed lawmakers were under such a severe time pressure.

Or you could wonder about how a lawmaker's seniority - and not the intrinsic need for a project - affects how money gets spent. And Kevin Meyer calls that a fair process?

Or you could ask why revenue-sharing and some education funding gets included in the budget but when Democrats ask to spend more on a few specific social services additions they get told those concerns should go into the operating budget.

But then I read through the budget and see there is 2.25 million dollars for (much-needed, of course) repairs and renovations to the Nome Recreation Center and the construction of a covered ice-skating rink and I think how great it would be not to have to shovel snow for an hour before I play hockey or dodge puddles when I play racquetball and I say, "This is a great budget. It can't pass soon enough!"