News Story - Idaho State Journal

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Idaho will spend about $250,000 in private money to remodel the governor's mansion, enough to make it livable but far short of a proposed $3 million makeover that had envisioned a dining area for 150 and an entrance big enough for a horse-drawn carriage.

The limited remodel, which also could include efforts to replace a giant lawn with native grass to reduce watering costs, raises the question of whether a $4,500 monthly housing stipend that Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter now collects will end, lawmakers said.

After failing to muster sufficient cash for the larger revamp, the state Department of Administration is using about half of the roughly $475,000 in donations collected so far on paint, new flooring, furniture and appliances so the house could host visiting dignitaries, dinners or agency retreats.

"We are starting the process of making the house a functioning house," said Teresa Luna, a spokeswoman for the Department of Administration, which manages the property. "Other options are further down the road. This was the solution to make the house usable -- hopefully by the end of the year."

Billionaire J.R. Simplot, who died in May, donated the 7,400-square-foot house in 2004 to be used as a governor's mansion. Idaho was among a handful of states without such a residence.

It's stood vacant ever since, as efforts to raise more than $3 million from private and corporate sponsors for the ambitious revamp and expansion lost steam. Former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who accepted Simplot's gift, left Idaho to become U.S. Interior secretary; Otter, whose first marriage to Simplot's daughter, Gay, ended in 1993, said he wouldn't live in the home even after it was finished.

By Tuesday, workers had already ripped out some floors, painted exterior trim and were tearing down aging wallpaper inside the 30-year-old home.

New interior paint, draperies, bedroom sets, a dining room table, dishwasher, carpeting, vanities, linens, coffee tables, end tables, side chairs, a stove, refrigerator and technological improvements are all coming. The budget for furniture and appliances is $80,000, with some purchased from R.C. Willey Home Furnishings during a recent sale, Luna said. Exterior and interior painting will cost $80,000, with floorings, labor and other items running an additional $80,000 to $90,000.

Absent a functioning state residence, Otter, a millionaire, gets $4,500 monthly to live at his ranch west of Boise. Some on the five-member Governor's Housing Committee that helps oversee his accommodations said that should end once the current work on the Simplot home is completed.

"I'm not going to give it to him, if he can live in the new house, if the Simplot house is habitable and has a working refrigerator and beds," said Rep. Phylis King, D-Boise, a member of the committee. "If we spend that quarter of a million on that home, I don't believe he will continue to get his stipend."

Sen. Brad Little, R-Emmett and another member of the committee, committed only to consider the issue.

Part of his decision, Little said, would hinge on whether $1.5 million in a fund from selling a previous Idaho governor's mansion some two decades ago produces enough interest to cover maintenance costs as well as Otter's stipend without resorting to taxpayer money.

"I'm going to look at the finances of it," Little said. "If it's not sustainable, and we're not going to have money to do the maintenance, then absolutely" the stipend should be cut.

Jon Hanian, Otter's spokesman, said the stipend was a legislative issue.

"It's never been really discussed as a place for this governor to live," Hanian said. "The context has been, using this residence as a place to entertain visiting heads of state or for fundraisers for things like the Meth Project, to do presentation to CEOs or other philanthropic interests."

In addition to the current remodel, Idaho and the J.R. Simplot Co., which still owns much of an adjacent hillside, are looking into "xeriscaping" with native vegetation such as sage and bitterbrush that need less water and upkeep. New irrigation equipment is likely needed at the property soon and Idaho spent $106,000 in 2007 for its share of maintenance and security, with much of it going to water and mow the lawn.

That sends the wrong message, especially as a tight economy, rising unemployment and higher fuel costs crimp regular Idaho residents' budgets, Little said.

"That hillside has got to be one of the most water-consumptive pieces of real estate in the state," Little said.

This document was originally published online on Wednesday, September 10, 2008

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