EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Preliminary construction work could begin this spring on a state psychiatric hospital south of Junction City — if state lawmakers back funding.
For work to commence this year, the Oregon Legislature must approve a $29 million allocation of general fund-backed bonds for the hospital. A small portion of the funding would go to the nearly completed Salem psychiatric hospital.
The Eugene Register-Guard (http://bit.ly/xOmFsS ) says the allocation would keep the Junction City project moving through next summer and take a big bite out of its total remaining construction costs of $84 million.
The timing, however, is difficult given state government’s dire financial problems.
A state commission has recommended that the governor and the Legislature not authorize any “net increase in general fund-backed debt” until the end of the 2011-13 biennium.