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Published May 14, 2008 12:18 am - TOPEKA, Kan. — Officials believe renovating the Docking State Office Building is a priority, but legislators haven’t provided any money. Kansas: No money in budget for state building’s repair The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. — Officials believe renovating the Docking State Office Building is a priority, but legislators haven’t provided any money. The Department of Administration had hoped lawmakers would authorize $96 million in bonds for the project. The agency also sought $1 million to cover its planning expenses. But legislators are worried that the state faces tight budget times in the near future and didn’t approve any planning funds or authorize the bond issue. Their inaction will delay a renovation of the building, just west of the Statehouse, for at least a year. “The issue with Docking has reached a point where serious decisions need to be made,” Gavin Young, a department spokesman, told The Topeka Capital-Journal. “There aren’t enough Band-Aids to cover up all the issues there are with that building.” State officials have few doubts that the building, which opened in 1955, needs an overhaul. It scores 55 on the state’s index for measuring a building’s condition, when a score of 79 is considered deficient. Plumbing, electrical, lighting and fan systems are at least 20 years past their normal life spans, according to Marilyn Jacobson, the department’s finance and facilities management director. None has been replaced since being installed. The department would like to gut the existing building and rebuild it with its existing frame. The reconstruction would cost $80 million, with an additional $16 million spent on furnishings and temporary quarters for agencies now housed there. But legislators finished work on the budget earlier this month facing grim forecasts from their research staff about the state’s finances. Staff researchers told lawmakers the state could sustain the $13.6 billion in spending they approved for the 2009 fiscal year, which begins July 1. But researchers also projected a $190 million shortfall between anticipated revenues and already promised spending for fiscal 2010. Those projections likely will make the Docking project a tough sell next year, as well. “It’s going to find a difficult path, not based on its merits but based on the state’s financial reality,” said Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park, chairman of a House budget subcommittee on general government. 
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