State Gives $6.9 Million to Fund City Projects

Gov. Gray Davis gave $6.9 million to the city of Coalinga and Fresno County on Thursday to help alleviate the impacts from a new state hospital for sexual predators.

The money will help address a variety of demands that the 1,500-bed hospital and its employees put on the community. The funds could be spent on a new school, water treatment plant improvements, police vehicles, a new fire station and other city projects.

Coalinga was selected in August as the site for the $365-million hospital, which is needed because a 1995 law requires that some sex offenders be sent to a mental hospital after serving their sentences. Existing hospitals are expected to reach capacity next year.