HOLDEN: FREEING CAPE VO-TECH FUNDS POSSIBLE

There is still hope long-withheld state funding for the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center and other area projects could be released by the end of the month, Gov. Bob Holden said Tuesday.

Last year, the General Assembly approved $18.25 million for various Southeast Missouri building projects, including $1 million for the career center. The money was part of $161 million capital improvements bill.

For a variety of reasons, the funds were never released, the latest being an uncertain financial outlook for the state.

During a visit to Cape Girardeau Tuesday, Holden said his budget advisers are working to determine if the state can afford at least some of the projects listed in the bill before the appropriation expires June 30 with the end of the 2001 fiscal year.

"We are trying to get all the information ... right now on the state's economic picture," Holden said. "I want to try to do that as quickly as I can, and as much as I can."

He said he wasn't sure where the career center ranked on the priority list, but that "I know it is a good project."

$1.8 million due

The Cape Girardeau School District has been expecting more than $1.8 million in state money for the project, which was completed this spring, for more than a year. The district was forced to freeze non-essential spending and dip into its budget reserves to cover the state's share.

Though the $1 million from last year is still in limbo, another $832,000 is included in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Other funding earmarked for area projects includes $11.95 million for Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus, $150,000 for the university's Kennett Learning Center, $750,000 for a vocational school in Poplar Bluff and $4.4 million for four area port authorities.

Should Holden not take action by June 30, the money might be made available sometime during the next two years for all the area projects except for the ports.

The Legislature reappropriated many of the delayed projects this spring. However, the release of that money is still dependent of the state's financial outlook.

335-6611, extension