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Senators Question Statehouse Renovation Plan

State Treasurer Ford Scudder testifies at Senate committee hearing.
Phil Gregory

New Jersey lawmakers are questioning the Christie administration's proposal to spend $300 million on renovating the Statehouse in Trenton.

Senator Jim Whelan is among the members of the Senate Economic Growth committee who wonder if a less costly project could adequately resolve the building's safety hazards.

"Is there a sweet spot below the $300 million and above doing nothing that addresses the safety issue, that maintains the architectural and historic integrity and so on and so forth? I don't know if that's $125 million or $150 million or $75 million.

State Treasurer Ford Scudder says it makes little sense to do patchwork repairs when comprehensive renovations are needed.

“There’s also the issue of throwing good money after bad where there’s some improvements that you could make, but then when then you have do to a full renovation eventually you going to just undo them all and have wasted money in the process.”

Senator Ray Lesniak believes legislative approval is needed for the project and legal action is possible to block it.