El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 2

CONTINUED FROM 1A El Paso Times Friday, May 30, 2003 Federal cash may help state resume health aid rr. fc4 "i fi Strayhorn said. The remaining $709 million is "flexible grant" money. Lawmakers are planning to use the money for mental health, for nursing homes and for trying to restore reimbursement rates to doctors and others who care for patients in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Strayhorn said Texas could face more revenue pressure, in part because the Legislature didn't change a law that lets companies avoid paying franchise taxes.

Companies that shifted the base of their franchises to Delaware led to an 18 percent decline in Texas's franchise-tax collections this year. Texas and 34 other states face estimated budget deficits through mid-2004 of $75 billion, an April survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows. A $118 billion two-year budget passed Monday by a conference committee between the state Senate and House will be balanced, according to lawmakers, if legislation is passed to reorganize state government to cut costs. By Darrell Preston Bloomberg News AUSTIN Texas' revenue has fallen, but the state may be able to reinstate health programs for children and the disabled with part of the $1.26 billion it gets under legislation signed by President Bush on Thursday, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said. Expected revenue from a tax on business franchises fell $105 million so far this year, Strayhorn said during a press conference in Austin.

Sales tax revenue fell 0.5 percent in April, the 10th monthly decline in a row. "Our state's economy and the state revenue situation remain in a precarious situation," Strayhorn said. "We are currently experiencing the second consecutive year of declines in the sales tax." The state is getting $1.26 billion in federal aid for Medicaid and other programs as part of Bush's 10-year tax cut package that includes aid to states. The state must spend $5533 million of the grants it will receive Victor Calzada El Paso Times Jesus Guillen installed a new ceiling Thursday in ovation project now going on at the Coliseum con-the El Paso County Coliseum. The $6.7 million ren- tains no money to fix the problem-plagued roof.

Coliseum Kelly West Associated Press State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn updated lawmakers Thursday on the state's revenue outlook. Legislators are preparing to finalize a $118 billion two-year budget. from the federal legislation on Medicaid, which means the healthcare programs cut under budget legislation could be restored, Theproject Strippers Continued from 1A Urban Associates began the $6.7 million renovation of the County Coliseum Jan. 16 under a contract requiring completion by Dec. 3L The project includes: A new heating and cooling system that will bring refrigerated air-conditioning to the 62-year-old Coliseum for the first time, permitting summertime concerts and other events that will boost revenues.

Bigger seats and more legroom. The new seats will be 22 inches wide, 4 inches wider than the present seats, which will reduce the number of seats in the Coliseum by 557 to 5,450. Two new concession stands on the west side. New restrooms on the west side, including a women's restroom with 27 toilets, in response to a long-standing complaint. A new west entry, ticket center and booths, ground-floor locker room and off ices for Coliseum staff.

ordinance, which has been frozen in the City Council for weeks until the newly elected representatives take office, would have prevented such a situation because police would be able to inspect employee records at will, said O'Dell, executive director of the anti-porn group Model Cities of America-El Paso. The American Civil Liberties Union has argued that such a provision could violate the privacy of workers. Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborundaelpasotimes.com davit for that search warrant, another 15-year-old girl described a "don't-askdon't-tell" environment, in which she was offered cocaine by customers and had sex with patrons for money in "VIP" rooms. Officials said they could file nine possible charges against those involved, including sexual performance of a child, promotion of prostitution and tampering with evidence. "It just depends on where the investigation leads us," Esparza said.

A proposed adult businesses allegation was "all a lie." Detectives searched files, desks and even trash cans for business and employment records, security videotapes and cash register receipts. In March, a vice unit raid at the club seized similar items and the club ATM machine to find possible records of patrons. In an affi NATION Cats get more than just yarn on new TV show satisfy the entertainment needs of today's sophisticated, hightech felines. Cats need television. And now they have it.

"Meow TV," which bills itself as being for cats "and the people they tolerate," debuts at 5:30 p.m. MDT today on the Oxygen network. The tongue-in-furry-cheek comedy mixes video of squirrels and fish with segments titled "Cat Yoga" and "Cat Haiku." By Christy Lemire Associated Press NEW YORK Balls of yarn, little plastic toys with bells inside and the occasional whiff of catnip simply aren't enough to was ignored. "It should have been looked at by the design team and phased into the renovation," Hooten said. "It's a gross oversight." Urban's Gonzalez said the renovation plans by EM Consulting Engineers and Dimensions don't mention the roof.

"We never even knew there was anything wrong with the roof until we had installed some of the acoustic ceiling panels and it rained," Gonzalez said. After the rain in February, he said, he rechecked the plans and confirmed "there was no mention of the roof except to patch a couple of roof gutters." "It should have been mentioned in the original specs," Gonzalez said. EM Consulting Engineers won a place on Urban's subcontractor team as a mechanical contractor for the renovation project now under way at the Coliseum. "The whole thing has been everyone pointing the finger at someone else," Commissioner Dan Haggerty said. "With all the architects and engineers, you'd think someone would have addressed the issue." but scaled that project back to its current level when bids came in at more than $9 million.

The El Paso Times was unable to reach anyone at EM Consulting Engineers or Dimensions Architects for comment about their renovation plans. In early 1999, at the urging of then-County Commissioner Charles Hooten, the county hired Desert Resources' Mike Warmer to evaluate the Coliseum's roof before the renovation planning began. Warmer, who was accompanied on his inspection by Dimensions architect Morris Brown, repeated his findings from a 1997 inspection. "The gutter area, particularly on the east side of the building, is in very bad condition," Warmer wrote in his March 1999 letter to Kennedy and commissioners. "There are large tears in the flashing membrane, and water can easily and freely enter the building." Warmer also said the roof was missing half its required support structure the reason for the wind damage in 1996 and 1997 and recommended that a structural engineer examine the roof.

Hooten, who left office at the end of 2000, said he cannot understand how Warmer's report Ml tejM'Msls. Continued from 1A Urban's project manager, Daniel Gonzalez, said his company reported the problems to the county in February, when the 15-year-old roof leaked. Gonzalez said Urban has offered to replace the roof as an addition to its design-build contract with the county, though he isn't excited about the prospect. "Normally, you couldn't pay me enough to take such a chance on the public exposure of having pieces of metal flying off the roof and killing animals at the zoo," he said, referring to the El Paso Zoo, which is across Paisano Drive from the Coliseum. After the Commissioners Court took no action May 5 on a proposal to replace the roof quickly, Urban warned the county that its prior guarantees on the project are in jeopardy.

"Urban Associates LP will no longer be responsible for any conditions which may affect the new construction, nor be responsible for any damage to the work which is or will be installed during the interim of this construction," Gonzalez said in a May 8 letter. This week, Gonzalez said Urban can replace the roof and finish the renovations now 40 percent complete by the Dec. 31 deadline, barring weather-related damage and delays. Roof problems at the Coliseum date from 1996 and 1997, when because of a design defect, winds lifted the roof off and blew a section of it away. The biggest unrepaired hole in the roof stayed in the news for eight months in 1997 as a dwindling number of Buzzards fans watched minor-league hockey games in the snow, rain and other inclement weather inside.

Flores is irate that the designs and specifications for the Coliseum renovation failed to include a new roof. "Why would you go out for $6 million in contracts without a roof?" Flores said. "Would you buy new furniture and remodel your home if you knew the roof leaks?" Flores blames everyone for the situation, from former Commissioner Carlos Aguilar and the current commissioners who knew about the failing roof, to County Purchasing Agent Piti Vasquez, Coliseum Director Brian Kennedy and the engineering and architectural firms that drew up the renovation plans. "Did everyone have amnesia?" she said. They're all passing the buck.

It seems everybody told everybody except me and nobody did anything about it. They're already putting the ceiling in, and next month it starts raining." Vasquez agreed that the roof problems have been widely known for years. "Why wasn't it addressed? I don't know," Vasquez said. "I'm not the facility manager or the director. I feel it's a department head's responsibility." Kennedy was involved in planning the renovation, and Vasquez said the roof problems should have been dealt with at that stage.

Kennedy said, "Commissioner Aguilar was leading the charge on the Coliseum. In fact, the original idea (for the renovation and expansion) was Commissioner Aguilar's." Besides Aguilar, Kennedy said, the project's designers El Paso's EM Consulting Engineers and Dimensions Architects were aware of concerns about the roof. "Was I knowledgeable of it? Yes," Kennedy said. "Did I run it all over to the architect and engineers? Yes." But after that, Kennedy said, he did not go over the original plans for the renovation, which called for a larger project at the Coliseum one that was to cost no more than $6.5 million. The coun((r kept the original designs David Crowder may be reached at dcrowderelpasotimes.com Hmes WW! At if Vol.

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