The Legislature splurged on hundreds of millions of dollars in capital projects for Anchorage before it adjourned, from tiny classroom appropriations for elementary schools to $76 million for a crime lab.

The statewide capital budget approved by the Legislature in its closing hours early Monday is estimated at $3.1 billion, including about $1 billion of federal money. The budget's earmarks now must survive the veto pen of Gov. Sean Parnell.

The projects range from new buildings and major highway maintenance work costing tens of millions of dollars to school supplies for individual schools costing much less.

All told, the tally for Anchorage is $564 million, including federal money, according to the Legislative Finance Division. But that doesn't take into account state projects based here, such as the $18 million renovation of the Boney Courthouse downtown. So exactly how much the Legislature spent on projects in the city isn't fully known yet.

It's enough money that Mayor Dan Sullivan says the city will need to control the pace of building to make sure the economy doesn't overheat.

The governor and some lawmakers have criticized the spending as excessive. But in terms of what the municipality asked for, Sullivan said, "It could only be considered hugely successful."

Legislators gave grants in response to requests from nonprofits, and community councils and parent and alumni groups as well as requests from the city and the Parnell administration. The range of projects includes a bigger Covenant House for runaway teens, a new house for polar bears Ahpun and Louie at the Alaska Zoo, and new sports fields around town.

"Any kind of money that you get is because you know who to ask and you've got the right people asking," said Dennis McMillian, president of the Foraker Group, a business that advises nonprofits in Alaska.

ARENAS, FIRE STATIONS AND THE LIBRARY

The city's priorities for both municipal and state projects all made it through, Sullivan said.

Among them:

• The crime lab, which will be owned by the state but will speed up processing of crime scene evidence such as DNA for Anchorage police as well, city officials say.

• A new sports arena for the University of Alaska Anchorage, last estimated to cost $80 million. The Legislature put $60 million of that in a statewide bond proposal that would go to voters in the fall.

• $20 million for Port of Anchorage expansion.

• $6 million to rebuild Muldoon's Fire Station 6, one of the city's oldest and busiest stations; and $5 million to renovate Huffman's Fire Station 9, which has heating and septic problems.

• Money for two city buildings from the 1980s era, Sullivan Arena and Loussac Library.

There's $1.6 million for the Sullivan. That will pay for fire and security system upgrades and some renovations, including exterior paint, said city inter-governmental affairs director Stacy Schubert.

Z.J. Loussac Library will receive $4.7 million that will likely go for a new ground floor entrance to replace the second-floor terrace that exists now, said librarian Karen Keller. This is a scaled-back version of plans that failed in an Anchorage bond package that would have also created a public plaza near the entrance. But it will make it easier to get into the library, said Keller.

ROADS AND BUSES

Anchorage got an unprecedented $120 million in state money for roads, sidewalks and buses, said Jim Lamson, city capital program development manager.

The bus system got $250,000 in state money to expand its fleet and replace old buses, and $1.8 million in federal money.

Plus, the Legislature approved scores of individual road grants, many of them for small neighborhood projects, Lamson said. For example, Little Tree Street and Cindylee Lane on the west side of Lake Otis Parkway near the YMCA will be rehabilitated. "It's just a neighborhood that had some real problems with drainage," Lamson said.

Bigger projects include rebuilding Huffman Road for $15 million; upgrading Golden View Drive for $8 million; rebuilding Johns Road for $7 million; upgrading Old Eagle River Road for $6.8 million; improvements to 35th Avenue between Wisconsin Street and Spenard Road for $6 million; and extension of 100th Avenue from Minnesota Drive to C Street for $6 million;

Many of the projects will draw upon both locally approved bond money and state grants, Lamson said.

SCHOOL PROJECTS

There are more than 120 earmarks for Anchorage schools. They range from $1,000 for new library chairs at Steller Secondary School to $21 million to renovate Service High School.

"We did very well from what I understand," said Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau, who was still combing through the 150-page document.

The request for Service High School was filed by the state Department of Education and was one of the state's top education capital project priorities. It only goes part way to funding the project, and the district will still need to come up with the rest.

Schools often pay for needs and wants through individual grants. But such grant requests, coming from parent groups, community councils and alumni associations, are outside the Anchorage School District's normal budgeting process. Comeau said that means not every school benefits. Comeau would prefer legislators let the district distribute grant money equitably. "But that is not how they operate," she said.

Among the school projects:

• $520,000 to replace the lockers at Mears Middle School. "Current lockers are 25 years old and are falling apart," according to paperwork on the project.

• $250,000 to light the sports complex at Dimond High School, a request that came from the Dimond High School Alumni Foundation.

• $10,000 for a climbing wall at Lake Otis Elementary School.

• $2,500 to buy snowshoes for Chinook Elementary School.

There's also $30,000 for a virtual science lab at the McLaughlin Secondary School, in the state's juvenile prison. "Due to safety concerns that adjusted youth pose with 'hands-on' science activities, the current science lab is not utilized fully," according to the paperwork.

NONPROFITS SCORE

Nonprofits did well this year, McMillian said. "There's more as a result of the past few years there being a pent-up demand."

Some of the bigger projects have been on the drawing board for years, he said.

The Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center, for example, gets $9 million toward its $27 million project to relocate and expand its clinic, an effort in the works since 2002. The expansion would enable the nonprofit to triple the number of patient visits, said spokesman Jon Zasada.

Other earmarks include:

• $3 million for Covenant House Alaska. The money goes toward a $20 million project to move the Sixth Avenue and F Street facility for homeless youth to Eighth Avenue and A Street.

• $3 million to build the Dena'ina House, a Cook Inlet Tribal Council project to house homeless Native teens and provide educational support so they can finish high school.

• The Blood Bank of Alaska gets $13.4 million toward a new facility, which might cost as much as $49 million. Current lab space is too small and outdated, said Jessica Golden of the Blood Bank.

When the new building is ready, the lab will also be able to do more sophisticated blood work, Golden said. For example, a person getting knee surgery could donate their own stem cells to help their body rebuild the knee.

Parks get grants

The Kincaid Project Group got $2 million of $3 million the group says it needs to complete construction of soccer fields, a new biathlon range and a snow-making system at Kincaid Park.

Various groups received allocations for sports fields, and the Anchorage Park Foundation got grants to improve a number of parks.

GIRDWOOD GETS A BUNDLE

Girdwood got $8.5 million for economic development.

The grant is not specific, said Diana Stone Livingston, chair of Girdwood 2020, a group that advocates for improvements. But there's plenty on Girdwood's list: an industrial park where heavy equipment can be stored, a road to the new library and community center from the Alyeska Highway, road maintenance, drainage and maybe some paving, said Livingston.

Appropriations of $1 million or more for Anchorage groups or projects found in the recently passed state capital budget, in millions, rounded to the nearest $100,000. Includes state and federal sources of money. The $3.1 billion package is on its way to Gov. Sean Parnell.

State crime lab