Delaware’s Bond Bill heads to lawmakers for consideration on the final day of session.
The Bond Bill calls for allocating unclaimed property revenue on several one-time uses. Among them is $25 million in one time special funding for school construction.
Though use of these one time funds can be controversial– one approved use is to fill certificates of necessity construction applications from schools.
The Bond Bill Committee pointed out earlier this year that certificate of need funding applications hadn’t received approval recently.
And Controller General Ruth Ann Miller said the state has a "significant balance" in its unclaimed property, and decided to pull from the fund.
"We are forward funding a lot of the schools for their (certificate of need applications)," she said. The bond committee has heard "a lot from districts" that certificates of need have been rejected.
The bill also seeks $30 million to buy The Summit North Marina. DNREC Secretary Gregg Patterson said that will get the state out of a difficult lease agreement.
"We have not seen payment from them for a number of years," he said.
That's because of a legal back and forth, as the property owner's made claims against DNREC, "as to how some things that state parks has done has impacted their operations," Patterson said.
He called the situation "an impasse." And the state has not made, "any money off the property."
Lawmakers will vote on the more than $1.2 billion Bond Bill during Tuesday’s final day of session.
