At halfway mark, majority of infrastructure law funds yet to be spent
Halfway through the five-year Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act, less than half — 38% — of the funding has been
announced, according to the White House. That’s a 13.5% increase in the past
6 months, an indication that the process is ramping up but still
lags.
To date, $454 billion of the IIJA’s $1.2 trillion has been
announced for a range of projects
like the Brent Spence Bridge between Cincinnati and Covington,
Kentucky. Announced funding, captured from agency press releases, is
preliminary and non-binding, whereas awarded funding represents actual
obligations, per the White House. Half of the IIJA’s funding, or $550 billion,
goes to new initiatives.
The White House also released an updated map of the more than 56,000 projects and awards that are identified or now underway at 4,500-plus localities around the country. That’s up 40% from 40,000 projects six months ago.
The IIJA and other federal funding has buoyed the
infrastructure sector amid slowdowns elsewhere in the building industry in
recent years. Infrastructure
spending continues to build in 2024 as $1.8 trillion in federal
grants, loans, tax credits and other financial incentives seep into the
economy, according to analysis from S&P Global, a financial information
provider.
The largest portion of IIJA
money is designated for road and bridge construction, according to
White House data analyzed by CNBC, followed by rail, broadband, power and water
projects. So far, improvements have launched on 165,000 miles of roads and more
than 9,400 bridge repair projects are underway thanks to the IIJA, according to
the White House.
However, inflation has sapped the buying power of the law,
according to S&P. Elevated prices for materials, wage increases and continued
skilled trades worker shortages have resulted in the funding carrying
less bang-for-the-infrastructure buck than what policymakers envisioned.
Many of the country’s infrastructure systems suffer from
long standing underinvestment, according to the American Society of Civil
Engineers. ASCE gave U.S. infrastructure a “C minus” on its most recent report
card, with roads, bridges, airports and water systems rated in “poor” to
“mediocre” condition. Many need updates to withstand the impact of more
frequent and intense extreme weather due to climate change.
The goal of the IIJA is to start to address these repair and
resilience gaps, and recent Biden administration investments have kept
the state of infrastructure from getting worse, an ASCE study released in
May found.
Yet beyond inflation, changes in the infrastructure
landscape — including supply chain problems, stricter emission standards in the
energy sector and extreme weather — have raised baseline spending needs, ASCE
found. The organization warns that progress realized from the IIJA will end
along with the funding in 2026.
“In recent years, though funding levels have improved, the
infrastructure needs for various sectors have grown and evolved,” ASCE wrote in
its Bridging the Gap report. “These changes have effects on the anticipated
investment needs and, therefore, the size of the funding gaps for each sector.”
Fitch Ratings said Tuesday it has assigned A+ ratings to
$669 million in bonds that will be issued on behalf of Yale New Haven Health
(YNHH).
Proceeds from the bond issuance are expected to be used to
refund the health system’s existing debt, as well as to provide approximately
$333 million to support Yale New Haven’s capital spending program.
Fitch outlined several major capital projects Yale New Haven
Health has underway or planned, including an $840 million neurosciences center
on the St. Raphael campus.
Its other major capital project under evaluation is a comprehensive outpatient
center in Meriden. Most other capital spending will be directed at
infrastructure improvements, technology and equipment needs, and additional
ambulatory access centers, according to Fitch.
The ratings, issued with a stable outlook, are for
approximately $159 million series 2024A put bonds, $333 million series 2024B
variable rate demand bonds and $177 million 2024C fixed rate revenue bonds to
be issued by the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority on
behalf of YNHH.
Fitch also said it affirmed the health system’s outstanding
debt and Issuer default rating at A+, and affirmed the short-term rating on its
bond series supported by self-liquidity at F1+.
The bonds are expected to price the week of June 10, Fitch
said.
Fitch said the A+ rating reflects its view that YNHH is
implementing steps “that are expected to improve operating results over time
supported by recent volume growth,” as well as institutional characteristics
that include its local and regional market presence and “brand recognition for
tertiary and quaternary care,” and a closer alignment with the Yale School of
Medicine.
The A+ rating is further supported by Fitch’s view that the
system has sufficient funds available to support completing its large tower
expansion project that includes a neurosciences center. Management is also
expanding the system’s primary care access, “which will further drive the
already highly utilized YNHH's high end services at its flagship Yale New Haven
Hospital,” Fitch said.
The stable outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that the
health system will ultimately return to stronger operating results, “but at a
level lower than had been recorded historically,” the ratings firm said. Fitch
added that it anticipates system operating results in fiscal year 2024 will be
“break-even,” with further financial recovery in 2025 and beyond.
Fitch added that the current rating does not factor in the
potential acquisition of three Connecticut hospitals and a medical group from
the for-profit Prospect Medical Holdings, for which YNHHS signed a $435 million
asset purchase agreement in October 2022. YNHHS has filed a lawsuit seeking to
void the deal, claiming Prospect violated terms of the agreement.
Gov. Lamont vetoes first bill of year, rejecting proposal doubling cap on bidding
Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed his first bill from this year’s
legislative session on Wednesday, sending back to lawmakers a proposal that
would have doubled the cap on municipal contracts exempt from competitive
bidding practices.
The legislation, Senate
Bill 226, proposed raising the minimum threshold for competitive bidding on
all municipal contracts from $25,000 to $50,000 as part of what supporters
described as an effort to increase efficiency and keep up with inflation.
While the bill passed both chambers without much opposition
earlier this month, Lamont said that the suggested increase went well beyond
inflation — which he argued would put the threshold at around $35,000 — and
risked eroding safeguards put in place to ensure transparency in the awarding
of public contracts.
“Competitive bidding processes are essential to ensure
fairness, quality, and cost-effectiveness in public procurement,” Lamont said
in a
letter explaining his decision. “By increasing the threshold for
sealed bidding, we run the risk of limiting competition, potentially leading to
inflated costs, reduced quality of services or goods, and even unethical
practices such as favoritism or collusion.”
Under current law, local leaders have the option to enact
ordinances exempting contracts valued under the $25,000 threshold from
competitive, or sealed, bidding rules.
The legislation had drawn support from the leaders of the
Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Council of Small Towns, who
noted that the threshold has remained stagnant for more than a decade.
The executive director of COST, Betsy Gara, said the
organization was given a heads up from the governor’s office that he planned to
veto the bill following its advocacy.
“We thought it would be a useful change for municipalities,”
Gara said. “With today’s construction costs, $25,000 is an extraordinarily low
number to require sealed bidding.”
Lamont’s veto sends the bill back to the legislature, where
only three members — two Republicans and one Democrat — voted against it.
The decision also comes less than two weeks after the
arrest of a former Lamont administration official, Konstantinos
Diamantis, who was charged with soliciting bribes from contractors in exchange
for work on lucrative school contracts that he oversaw. Diamantis, who pleaded
not guilty, was suspended by Lamont in 2021, prompting him to resign
from state government.
“In light of what’s happened in school construction, I think
it’s the right thing to do,” said state Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott,
who was one of the three ‘no’ votes in the bill.
Despite the strong, bipartisan majorities that voted in
favor of the bill during the session, both the leaders of the House and Senate
said Wednesday that they had no plans to attempt to override the veto with a
two-thirds vote of each chamber.
“My guess is next year we can just come back to it and meet
in the middle,” said House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford.
Legislative leaders are currently planning to hold a special
session in mid-to-late June to pass a complex
bill dealing with local car tax assessments, as well as a limited number of
other issues that went unaddressed during the three-month-long session earlier
this year, Ritter said.
After that point, if the governor has vetoed other bills
that lawmakers want to reconsider, Ritter said that they can do so in a
veto-override session.
The only other legislation that Lamont has threatened
to veto this year is a bill creating a $3 million fund to provide
unemployment aid for striking workers, which the Senate passed in the final
minutes before its midnight deadline on May 8.
Lamont spokeswoman Julia Bergman said Wednesday that the
governor’s office had yet to formally receive the striking workers bill, House
Bill 5431, preventing the governor from taking any action on it.
As of Wednesday, Lamont had signed 69 other bills into law
from the legislative session, including measures to expand
paid sick leave, increase state oversight
of youth summer camps, banning
dog racing and ending the practice of reporting
of medical debt to credit rating agencies.
Torrington receives $1.6 million grant to rebuild sewer pumping station: To 'protect environment'
TORRINGTON — The sewer plant's hardest-working pumping
station on Harris Drive, which was built in 1979, draws from seven smaller
stations in the northern area of Torrington, feeding to the main plant off
South Main Street.
But the station's capabilities are hampered by flooding —
and at times, floodwaters rise inside and outside the small building, which
holds drive shafts that push sewer water through the system, a generator and
other equipment. Before it fails, it must be rebuilt.
"We've had up to 18 inches of water outside, and more
than that in here," sewer plant administrator Ed Tousey said.
"We've done everything to contain it; sandbags, berms ... and it's never
stopped pumping."
Tousey spoke outside the station on Wednesday, May 29, with
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who arrived in the early afternoon to
announce that Torrington will receive a $1.6 million federal grant to rebuild
the station. Tousey was also joined by Mayor Elinor Carbone, facilities manager
Jamie Sekora, Economic Development Administrator Richard Lopez and Public Works
Director Ray Drew at the announcement.
"The $1.6 million is a congressionally directed grant, meaning that we were given the chance to apply for it through the federal government," Drew said. "It's going to help with our infrastructure. This station is our largest, it serves seven smaller ones, and it's one of 14 stations around the city."
"The project is still in the design phase, but we
expect construction to start within a year," Tousey said. The rest of the
funding for the project, estimated to cost $3.2 million, will come from the
sewer plant's budget.
"One of the many things this grant means is that this
station will be brought into the 21st century," Blumenthal said. "Its
location is below the floodplain, and when Torrington applied for this funding,
U.S. Sen. (Chris) Murphy and I asked that this money go to them. The need is
obvious."
Blumenthal pointed out that well-maintained sewer facilities
prevent pollution in local rivers such as the Naugatuck River, and thereby
protect Long Island Sound.
"Ultimately, this will prevent costly spills and
equipment malfunctions," he said. "It stops raw sewage from going
into the river. It's worth so much, for the environment, to provide this kind
of funding."
The $1.6 million federal grant is the city's
second, Carbone said. The first, in 2021, was used to build a $2.7
million regional
animal control authority on Bogue Road, replacing the aging facility
that was built in 1947. The city received a federal Community Project Funding
Grant for $1.5 million toward the project; that new facility opened
in 2023.
"We appreciate your advocacy," Carbone told
Blumenthatl. "Our aging infrastructure is in need."