In the Bad Old Days, the only way to find out about the state’s new construction budget was by (1) driving — or riding a horse – down to Olympia and (2) somehow getting your hands on a copy of the actual legislation, then (3) reading hundreds of pages of thick legalese and (4) figuring out whether the budget funded projects you cared about, maybe in your county or neighborhood.
You had to be a combination of lawyer and lobbyist to actually understand the bill and know where projects were getting built.
These days, it’s a lot easier. Simply fire up the web!
Only care about state parks? You can simply look at which parks are getting spruced up. Wondering about your local school? There are ways to search by topic, by county, by legislation district – any way you’d like.
Maybe the most impressive, and useful, function is the big map of construction projects.
The map also shows you where new jobs are being created, because the construction budget brings with it at least 36,000 jobs — and that number is purposefully low-balled.
The total capital budget this year is $3.6 billion, and research shows that you create 10 jobs per $1 million spent on construction projects.
However, that doesn’t account for state projects that generate matching money – say the state puts in $2 million and a county matches that with $2 million, or the feds do. In that case, you’re getting 40 jobs for the price of 20.
There’s also a multiplier effect. When you create new construction jobs, those workers buy shoes for their kids and go out to lunch and maybe move out from an apartment to buy their first house. The economic activity generates a number of jobs for every construction job created.
So we’re being conservative with 36,000 jobs – it’s actually more.
Either way, the new construction budget is good news for Washington state and good news for all those dots on the map. Every dot you see puts men and women in hard hats to work, building a better Washington.