At Shipley Hall at Northeastern Oklahoma State University in Miami , employees can’t properly heat and cool the building.
At the University of Oklahoma, delayed maintenance on the school’s historic Bizzell Memorial Library already has reached the $11 million price range.
In Hominy the failing Dick Conner Correctional Center is at capacity and plagued with maintenance backlogs, mechanical problems and persistent violence . A new prison could cost $1 billion or more to house the state’s increasing inmate population .
The millions, and billions, add up.
Across the state, records at just a handful of state agencies surveyed by The Oklahoman show more than $25 billion is needed to pay for deferred maintenance and failing infrastructure needs. The list includes highways, parks, prisons and colleges ― and that’s just enough to bring those facilities up to current standards.
As Gov. Kevin Stitt and House Speaker Charles McCall are focused on cutting taxes during the current legislative session, including the personal income tax, a growing list of the state’s crumbling and neglected infrastructure has received barely a mention.