Why not pay for it?

Lawmakers refused to approve $42 million in bond financing to build a new office for the state medical examiner’s office this year, which would be a key step in helping the ME regain its national accreditation. If bond financing is so bad, why not simply pay for it? Since the office recently had to use refrigerator trucks to hold bodies after the agency’s 42-year-old freezer broke down, it’s clear the state can’t afford to dawdle much longer. Out of a $6.8 billion state budget, $42 million is drop in the bucket. It was recently announced $16 million was left on the table because of the collapse of this year’s tax-cut agreement. Why not earmark that money for the examiner’s office? Then lawmakers would have to come up with only $26 million more — a shift of just 0.3 percent of the total state budget.

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