Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, was among the state Assembly members wondering why the state plans to spend $144 million to support ski resorts during a time of fiscal austerity?

Goodell, in his comments on the state capital spending budget bill, echoed comments from other Republican Assembly members questioning why there are likely to be cuts in some areas of the budget at the same time ski resorts are seeing capital upgrades.

“I don’t quite understand why we have $144 million in this time of crisis to upgrade ski facilities,” Goodell said. “I’ve been a licensed or certified ski instructor, but the two ski resorts in my county are self-sufficient. They don’t ask for $144 million in order to operate. … I think maybe when it comes to ski resorts it’s time to freeze funding. When we’re increasing funding for ski resorts during a time of crisis, we’re really going down a slippery slope.”

Goodell said he appreciated including $500 million for clean water infrastructure, $300 million in funding for the Environmental Protection Fund, that CHIPS and winter restoration money for roads was added back into the budget and that the legislature is taking the first steps toward placing the Restore Mother Nature Bond Act in front of the voters in the November election. Goodell said he was frustrated that capital spending for libraries was cut.

While Goodell was speaking specifically about the capital budget bill, the Jamestown Republican used the ski facility upgrade money in the capital budget as an example for other areas of the state budget.

“It’s time for us to make tough decisions,” Goodell said on the Assembly floor. “We have to face the hard, cold facts that during a crisis we can’t fund everything we want.”

Goodell voted in favor of the capital budget bill, which passed in a 105-36 vote, though he ended his remarks on the Assembly floor by saying that no one should take passage of the budget as a sign that they will receive all of the funding included in the thousands of pages of bills.

“I’m very concerned that the governor, with the approval of his self-appointed director of budget, has almost complete discretion over millions of dollars in SAM (State and Municipal Facilities) funding because we’ve seen the problems with that” Goodell said. “I’ve wrestled with some of these issues. By and large I think the positives outweigh the negatives and I will be voting in support of it recognizing that we are in incredibly difficult financial times. I would warn those who are following this budget not to count necessarily on anything that’s in it because this fiscal crisis may be much deeper and more severe than we realize, making it impossible for us to even live up to what our hopes and expectations are during this budget process.”