By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) held a roundtable discussion with McLean County government officials Tuesday afternoon at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Much of the conversation revolved around the ongoing budget talks in Springfield. Local leaders wanted to know if there’s enough support to override a gubernatorial veto, should it come to that. Brady doesn’t think so.

“A number of Democrats, and I think in the House a few, voted against the Democrat sponsored budget that was $4 billion out of balance,” said Brady. “I think it’d be very hard for them come back and say, ‘OK, well now I’m willing to support that.'”

Brady also heard desire for new capital programs to fund infrastructure projects. He said if this is done, it needs to be different than the past.

“Typically, the government has ushered through huge infrastructure programs that spend a extraordinary amount of money in a very short period of time with no plan to replenish that investment after that period of time,” said Brady. “Of the several problems with that, one is the prices goes up of the purchase; two is the instability of the job market.”

Brady believed the state needs to have a longer term plan which creates a consistent investment in infrastructure.

Local officials raised concern about what freezing property taxes, an idea proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, would mean for the future. Brady said he understand the concern.

“The idea of freezing the growth in revenue is something that’s challenging to many of them,” said Brady. “I think they understand that businesses and citizens want that relief, and that it’s paramount in keeping them here, but it is a little bit of a challenge to governments when they’re used to that growth.”

Brady plans to hold similar types of meetings with local business leaders later this summer.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].