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Today’s number: $700 million

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Illinois

* AP…

Among the numerous financial headaches caused by Illinois’ budget mess is $700 million in construction projects that Gov. Bruce Rauner halted in the summer, and officials have no estimate of how much more they’ll need to dole out for stopping and, presumably, restarting them once there’s a spending agreement.

About a dozen construction sites will need to be protected from winter at a cost of about $2 million, officials said.

Rauner halted projects at universities, state parks, prisons and even Lincoln’s Tomb in the spring, eyeing a rapidly approaching start to the budget year and no agreed-upon fiscal plan. An Associated Press analysis of records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows when work stopped July 1, it affected 419 contracts affiliated with 218 job sites. Of those, 95 were under construction, said Lyndsey Walters, spokeswoman for the agency administering the work, the Capital Development Board. […]

“This has not been pleasant,” said Ric Krause, president of Chicago-area PATH Construction, whose company had to stop work on eight projects worth $26 million — less than half of which, according to records, has been paid. With that much work in the hopper, PATH has a number of staff members who are experts on the specific projects but now have no work to do.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:25 am

Comments

===…that Gov. Bruce Rauner halted in the summer,…===

Governors own.

Rauner chose.

The very last thing “you” want to be us a vendor to Illinois, and Gov. Rauner sees you as a chit, as opposed to a business providing a service, with employees depending on the work to earn a living.

Then again, Gov. Rauner may want your employees to earn less, so there’s that too.

Not a way to run a railroad.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:30 am
Winning!

Comment by Honeybear Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:31 am
Work is ordered to stop. Contractor files claims. Costs to State increase.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:32 am
“Under construction pause while we try to destroy unions. Please excuse our dust!”

Comment by Norseman Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:36 am
Destroy unions — and then have Rauner suggest specific firms that can come *way* under budget.

Rauner’s the hero.

I suspect that’s his plan with everything. Dust out the social service providers. We don’t need these providers. But wait — now that it’s total chaos, I have some specific firms that you can use.

Rauner’s the hero.

AFSCME strikes. Scabs brought in. Retirees. See, we didn’t need all this union labor. Look what these retirees can do. We cut our payroll by 60%.

Rauner’s the hero.

The retirees labor … slowly.

I have some firms that can do the work faster. Specific firms. And under budget!

Rauner’s the hero.

Comment by Frenchie Mendoza Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:40 am
Gee I wonder why Illinois’ job creation are in the toilet. Thanks Obama.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:46 am
Are these union jobs? Subject to prevailing wage? If so, its a win-win for rauner, beyond pain for the sake of pain. At $70k per job, $700 mil means 10,000 good jobs, before ripple effects. A whole construction season lost. Lasting damage to the industry, and our reputation. This is winning?

Comment by Langhorne Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:47 am
More pain and inconvenience to the highest number of people here will create that leverage. He’s thinking of what chaos and where it can happen next.

Comment by AnonymousOne Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:48 am
Construction season is going to be over soon. I remember candidate Rauner’s ad where he shows workers on heavy equipment and says “I will get these guys workin’ again”. We are waiting.

http://muscatinejournal.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/glance-a-look-at-the-suspended-construction-sites/article_50912e59-7a3d-5972-884e-68b9d77c6350.html

Comment by DuPage Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:50 am
Bruce Rauner + Todd Maisch = Businesses Winning!

Comment by 360 Degree TurnAround Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:51 am
There’s some academic somewhere that’s trying to figure out how to build “why would anyone do that?” into the cost benefit analysis for the project.

“What would happen if construction on the water park stops in it’s final month because state funding dries up, and the entire first operational year is lost?”

“Why would anyone do that?”

“Because Rauner.”

===Governors own.===

OW’s Carthago delenda est.

Comment by Anon Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:53 am
Some would have had him continue spending that money without a budget.

That is ==doable==, but that is not smart.

That is the thinking that helped create Illinois’ budget mess. ==No budget? No problem. Spend away.==

Comment by Formerly Known As... Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 9:57 am
Aside from the employment losses, we also lose the public good of improving our infrastructure.

Comment by Langhorne Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 10:00 am
Businesses suffer
Workers lose productivity
Expenses to the State (taxpayers) increase
Infrastructure suffers

Winnin!

Comment by Henry Francis Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 10:08 am
Governor Ahab rips up deck planks from the good ship Illinois and tosses them randomly at his Moby Dick.

Hardworking crew members drop through the gaps into the hold, never to be seen again.

They have joined the others in the hold who are simply trying to survive Governor Ahab’s earlier spearing of the hull. They are bailing water as fast as they can.

How far is Governor Ahab willing to go in his obsessive pursuit? He has proven he cares not for his ship nor those who inhabit her. Only Moby Dick.

Comment by PolPal56 Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 10:42 am
I’m amazed by how little posters here know about the way the construction industry works in Illinois.

First, projects get delayed and cancelled all the time. Only 95 of 419 were really started. If proportionate, that means $158 million is affected, perhaps half of which has already been paid. If the delays last too long, they may need to be re-bid, and if fair labor reforms are enacted. That may result in actual savings. Projects also need to be reconsidered given the financial condition of the state. perhaps many aren’t required, or even have merit, and should be cancelled permanently.

Construction companies in these businesses typically do more than state business, so they just shift staff to ongoing projects and get work done more quickly for their commercial, Municipal and County projects.

Projects, especially road projects, go “dormant” all the time due to limited manpower and equipment. How many times have you gone to a torn up section of road that’s been taken out of service and causing traffic problems, but you see no work on these areas for weeks, sometimes MONTHS, extending the inconvenience of the public? Maybe now those projects can proceed in a timely manner.

Bottom line is that this may not be as big a deal as it seems, and perhaps a reassessment of these projects not yet in construction is appropriate.

I am SO sorry that union dues may take a hit and that contractor kickbacks to local pols will slow to a trickle. My heart bleeds for them…

Comment by Arizona Bob Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 11:04 am
Bob, I don’t think your wheelhouse is the construction industry. Generally, the firms that build the CDB projects (vertical construction) are different from the road building firms. And the fact that you may see work not being done on a road usually has something to do with a utility delay, or because of how the project schedule is phased. Kindly can the “kickback” talk. No politicians can award sealed bid contracts to anyone but the low bidder.

Comment by phocion Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 11:18 am
Bob, the fact that you think large construction projects can start and stop on a dime and be delayed without costing the owner and contractor huge sums of money shows, unequivocally, that you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

Comment by Daniel Plainview Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 11:56 am
“Municipal and County projects”

Bwahahahaha!

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 11:57 am
It also means projects being designed are on hold, which means projects scheduled to be bid for 2016 construction will likely now be 2017. And IDOT is currently running a lean construction program.

Comment by Bogey Golfer Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 12:31 pm
For the love of pete Bob knock off your tired talking point about everything being corrupt. Besides, you live in Arizona. Do us all a favor and go away and bug the people in your own state for once because we’ve all had it with your nonsense.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 1:11 pm
Bob does not live in Arizona.
His name is “AZ” Bob, meaning “asinine zealot”.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 1:21 pm
=And IDOT is currently running a lean construction program.=

Can’t get away with a statement like that without backup. By what measure is the IDOT construction budget “lean”?

Comment by Arizona Bob Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 1:22 pm
Golfer - There is more at stake at IDOT than just a lean construction season. Last I heard, unless the MPO’s get reimbursed, the FHWA isn’t going to authorize federal funds on State projects. That will kill the program for next year.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 1:26 pm
@phocian

=No politicians can award sealed bid contracts to anyone but the low bidder.=

Tell that to the Duff brothers, phocian.

If you know anything about construction, you should know about how “lowballing” works. Under this system, and politically connected contractor bids low and expects to make their profits off of change orders. If you know the pols will approve a million dollar change order for doing a $100,000 change, you can get away with that.

If a pol let’s you know as a bidder that because the work is promised to their buddies, you’ll be paid late, they’ll hold your work to FAR higher standards than their cronies, and they won’t approve change orders, you have to bid higher and you lose the job.

You also find the pols limit bidders to their cronies, like Daley did for the three general contractors that were the only ones allowed to bid on CPS construction work.

I’ve lived in the belly of the beast, phocian. Don’t try peeing on my leg and telling me it’s raining….

Comment by Arizona Bob Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 1:30 pm
=If you know anything about construction, you should know about how “lowballing” works. Under this system, and politically connected contractor bids low and expects to make their profits off of change orders=

With the creation of the Chief Procurement Office, all changed orders must be approved by the CPO. CDB has a CPO for construction who scrutinizes all change orders. “Million dollar change orders” do not exist in the post SB 51 environment.

Comment by still tired Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 2:27 pm
Arizona Bob, former IDOT CFO here. Take the pass through Federal funds out of the program and look at the state and local portion of the published program. Industry views anything under $800 million as a lean program and a down year. Considering if you take out the Federal pass through money, which thankfully the administration can’t touch and you have a program of $506 million. Trust me it’s lean. In that envrironment it’s likely by June of next year only the big contractors and consulting firms survive and the smaller ones shut their doors or get gobbled up by the big dogs. Less competition equals less value for taxpayer.

Comment by farandwide Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 3:50 pm
@farandwide

Thanks for an interesting “chiming in”. I’ve never evaluated bids for IDOT, and most of my experience has been with schools and municipalities, and believe me, they’re often really dirty.

Since you’re here, I do have a question. I’ve done a lot of cost estimating, and when evaluating bids for them we often take a look at regional and national unit prices for work to see if there’s something going on that’s causing the prices to skew higher than comparable projects elsewhere. We used this factor when doing cost estimates off of Richardson, Means or other sources.

What “factor” did you usually apply to IDOT work compared to base regional transportation work in Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa and Kentucky?

Comment by Arizona Bob Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 4:13 pm
1) we all knew these stories were coming.
2) this is not the last story.
3) we are quickly approaching the point where the upside for Democrats helping Rauner starts to fall off pretty quickly.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Nov 9, 15 @ 5:30 pm