While Democrats have criticized Governor Pence's road funding plan for not including money for local streets, Republicans are uneasy about the use of a funding source the state has largely steered clear of in recent years: a bond issue.
Pence has proposed floating bonds for a quarter of the billion dollars he wants to raise.
House Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) has said he's "concerned" about that piece of the plan.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) says it bothers him too, though he says with everyone focused on the same goal, there's time to discuss the best way to get there. He notes Pence in his first three years has typically proposed one route to a goal while inviting legislators to fill in details or propose alternatives.
“In his usual style, the governor tends to offer suggestions about, ‘Here’s a way we could do this and I’m open to other suggestions,’ so I’m taking him at his word on that point,” Kenley says.
Pence argues the state's AAA bond rating allows the state to take on some debt without jeopardizing the budget -- he says he's proposing 20-year bonds, not the 50-year notes the state has used for some projects.
And Pence says with the state paying down old bonds, the state could float new ones and still have less debt in 2018 than it does today.
“I just think that using our triple-A bond rating, which is the best in the country, as a part of the way we can put together the resources to invest a billion dollars in roads without raising taxes is the right approach,” Pence says. “And we’ll look forward to bringing that discussion into the General Assembly in January.”
