By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph won big in the state budget, even aside from the nearly $10 million allocated to make improvements to Rosecrans Memorial Airport.
State Rep. Brenda Shields of St. Joseph, who serves on the House Budget Committee, says Gov. Mike Parson let stand a half million-dollar appropriation for the downtown Children’s Discovery Center after vetoing a $1 million appropriation for it last year.
“I think I was able to make the case with the governor a little bit more clearly on the importance of what we were doing and it’s all about relationships,” Shields says of the change of fortune. “I work well with the governor’s staff and the governor as well.”
The $51 billion state budget also includes $7.5 million to complete financing of the Convergent Technology Alliance Center which is located on the Missouri Western State University campus and will be operated jointly by Missouri Western and North Central Missouri College of Trenton. The budget contains $2.1 million to upgrade the Chiefs Training Camp on the Missouri Western campus. A $300,000 allocation will go to the Missouri Western Social Work program.
Shields says she’s extremely pleased with St. Joseph’s share of the state budget.
“As maybe, legislatively, how unsuccessful the session seemed and the few bills that we passed, St. Joseph was really able to shine in the budget this year,” Shields tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post, giving credit to the entire local legislative delegation. “I am incredibly proud of the dollars that we were able to bring home to make sure that St. Joseph’s economy continues to grow.”
The capital improvement projects aren’t the only beneficiaries of the budget.
Missouri Senate Appropriations vice chair, Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville, points out Missouri Western State University also benefits from a 3% increase in its core budget.
“The House ended up changing that and stripping it,” Luetkemeyer tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “The Senate added it back in and so Missouri Western and all the other four-year institutions around the state will see a 3% inflationary increase in their core appropriation which is really important to make sure that higher education remains affordable to Missouri families.”
The governor took his time signing the state budget. Gov. Parson signed the budget bills late Friday afternoon, just prior to the start of the state fiscal year on Monday.
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