In areas where the governor appropriately tried to push for long-term and statewide priorities, legislators grumbled. The governor had proposed several items — paying down retirement system debts, for example — that serve the state’s long-term interest.
After all, this one-time surplus money could be used for those purposes and save the state Treasury money down the road. Road? It’s only the roads that people drive on that legislators care about.
The Appropriations Committee whittled away $5 million from this and $5 million from that to provide for a $30 million fund for rural roads.
