| Article: | Idaho lawmakers balk at price tag for proposed drug treatment facility BOISE — Lawmakers worried about Idaho’s flagging economy balked Tuesday at spending $4.8 million on a plan by Gov. C.L. ‘‘Butch’’ Otter to turn a prison warehouse south of Boise into a drug-treatment facility. Otter wants to convert the Idaho Correctional Center building that has provided space for prison industries into a therapy center with classrooms and beds for 304 drug-addicted inmates. But the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee opted to hold off on the so-called ‘‘Prison Industry Enhancement,’’ or PIE, conversion, at least until its members have more information on projected state tax revenue. At January’s end, tax revenue was $1.6 billion, or $36 million behind forecasts for the current fiscal year, state economists said last week. That has lawmakers who oversee the budget wary of supporting fiscal year 2009 programs, especially if they require future spending. Otter’s proposed prison conversion is projected to include up to $1.7 million in ongoing annual costs. |
