A couple of Delaware lawmakers on the General Assembly’s Bond Bill Committee say they don’t like a recommendation by Governor Jack Markell for $3 million to fund bike trails.
Instead, they say the money should go toward maintaining aging dams and dikes statewide.
The objections by Representatives Helene Keeley and John Viola…came during yesterday’s hearing on budget requests from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
The Wilmington New Journal reports that Viola questioned why there was money for bike trails…while leaving unfunded a $2.5 million capital program for repairing high hazard dams and dikes.
DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara argued the trails were an important part of the No Child Left Inside initiative.
As for the infrastructure O’Mara told the committee that the Department has been involved in evaluating the state’s 43 dams using $4 million in bond Bill funds for the 2012 fiscal year.
