Doerflinger: Budget Deal Done, Indian Center ‘Dead’
Oklahoma Finance Secretary: Indian museum funding proposal ‘dead’
By Rick M. Green, Capitol Bureau
State troopers, correctional workers and child welfare employees would get a pay hike in a budget deal that also envisions a bond measure to fix the crumbling state Capitol but no money to complete a half-finished American Indian cultural center and museum, officials said Friday.
Gov. Mary Fallin said the budget includes $36.8 million for pay raises for 12,378 state employees. The lowest-paid workers are included in the hike, which, for many state employees, would be their first increase in several years.
Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger described as “dead” a proposal for $40 million in state money to finish the long-stalled Indian center project in Oklahoma City. The money was to be paired with $40 million in private funds. Backers of the project have said that without state funding this year, the private pledges will disappear.
The biggest repair and refurbishment project in the history of the 96-year-old state Capitol would be accomplished through a $120 million, 10-year bond measure. Longstanding problems in the plumbing, electrical system and facade of the landmark building would finally be fixed.