While the two candidates for governor trade jabs over a $3.2 million office renovation overseen by Democrat Chris Koster four years ago, a more than half billion dollar problem lurks over the horizon.
According to a recent audit, whoever sits in the governor’s office next will inherit repair and maintenance work at more than 150 state-owned offices and institutions estimated to cost as much as $600 million.
But, besides squabble over the renovation of part of a state office building used by the attorney general’s office, what are Koster and his Republican rival Eric Greitens planning to do to repair crumbling concrete, leaky roofs and aging plumbing at taxpayer-owned facilities across Missouri?
The Greitens campaign, after making an issue of the Koster-led upgrades to the Broadway state office building across the street from the Capitol, did not respond to questions about how the former Navy SEAL would handle the daunting backlog of repairs.
Rather, Greitens’ backers have taken to social media to mock the 2012 renovations, saying the money could have been spent better elsewhere.
“Chris Koster is a big-spending liberal career politician who thinks it’s ok to waste taxpayer money,” Greitens campaign manager Austin Chambers said in a statement.
“Koster owes Missouri families an explanation as to why a newly decorated and ‘spruced up’ office for him, was far more important than their children’s education or their safety.
In a statement issued Friday, Koster said he’ll work with legislators of both parties to ensure the next administration has the resources it needs to keep government-owned buildings from further disrepair.
“Attorney General Koster is committed to finding fiscally responsible solutions to Missouri’s infrastructure problems,” Koster communications director David Turner said Friday. “As the audit shows, and any homeowner knows, deferring maintenance only adds to the total cost of repairs.”
It’s not clear how that might work. Koster has said raising taxes is likely a no-go with a Republican-dominated Legislature.
Current repairs to the Capitol and other state facilities are being funded by a $300 million bond sale approved in 2015.
As for the accusations leveled by the Greitens campaign about the work on the Broadway building, Koster said the building was in need of repair and that the money used to pay for the project was gleaned from consumer fraud settlements brought in by the attorney general’s office.
“It’s clear from Eric Greitens’ baseless attacks on previous appropriations approved by the Republican majority he plans to remain ignorant about how to run an efficient and effective government,” Turner said. “His unwillingness to even learn the basics of how government functions while running for Missouri’s highest office should give voters pause.”
Whoever wins may need to take quick action to address the backlog.
According to the audit, of the $600 million in needed repairs, $426 million of that has been deemed “critical or necessary.”