The taxpayer is seemingly losing out on this project
Senator Carol Blood, representing Legislative District 3 in the Nebraska Legislature, requested that the Nebraska State Auditor’s Office review and audit what appears to be a potential misuse of Nebraska Taxpayer dollars.
The Lincoln South Beltway Project began in February of 2020, with the goal of building an 11-mile stretch of an east-west freeway South of the City of Lincoln, Nebraska. Originally, the project was supposed to cost the taxpayer $350,000,000 but has now ballooned to the price of $500,000,000. The state is unable to adequately cover the funds, and is now using contractor financing. This contractor financing is estimated to have cost the taxpayer an extra 110-160 million dollars.
Senator Blood stated, “It is our understanding the contracts allowed bidders to evenly distribute financing costs and put upfront costs for securing a loan so the contractor could be reimbursed by the state immediately. Embedding the financing costs within the construction costs is overall deceiving and not transparent to the taxpayer on exactly how much they are footing the bill for financing costs alone.”
Additional information received claims that the loan the contractor took out was 3.5% meaning they were paid approximately 10% plus profit just for taking out the loan by the state.
Senator Blood continues, “I am concerned Nebraska taxpayers are overpaying for a project that could have been financed with alternative methods including municipal financing instead of contractor financing to keep costs down.”