Lawmakers agreed to raise the spending ceiling for North Dakota's proposed new Veterans Home by $4.5 million, responding to higher costs brought on by design changes to the Lisbon facility.

The change was endorsed despite some lawmakers' doubts that the Legislature's Budget Section, which reviewed the issue Wednesday, had the authority to make the decision. Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, argued that the problem should be considered by the entire Legislature.

Last year, the Legislature set aside $21.1 million for the Veterans Home, with the federal Veterans Administration supplying $12 million. The existing home has 150 beds, and the VA is subsidizing 121 of the 150 beds planned for the new facility.

Mark Johnson, the Veterans Home's administrator, told legislators Wednesday that initial cost estimates for the new home had been hastily assembled. It is now expected to cost $25.6 million.

The Veterans Administration also wants a more sprawling "neighborhood and household" design, in which groups of 13 and 14 rooms are set aside in separate units, Johnson said. The layout costs more, but Johnson said it has benefits.

"It promotes an environment that is less restrictive," Johnson said. "It fosters peacefulness and some solitude for our veterans."

The proposed home will have 98 rooms for basic care, of which four will be double rooms. Fifty-two private rooms will be reserved for veterans needing skilled nursing care, Johnson said.

State officials have assembled a money package that attempts to cover enough of the state's share of the higher costs to make it to the 2009 Legislature.

It includes a state Department of Commerce grant for a geothermal heating system for the new building, money from a state contingency fund and part of a trust fund that provides aid for veterans' programs.

The $728,000 in state aid, when added to $1.4 million in additional Veterans Administration assistance, gets supporters of the new home almost halfway to the $4.5 million they need. Johnson said the 2009 Legislature will be asked to provide another $2.4 million.

A two-phase environmental assessment of the Lisbon building site has been finished and a cultural resource study is now under way, Johnson said. The reviews are required because of the federal aid being used for the project.

Project bids are planned for this summer with construction beginning in September or October, Johnson said. He hopes the new home will be finished in June 2010.

Sen. Tony Grindberg, R-Fargo, said the short time between bidding the project and the start of construction would mean the Veterans Home would pay higher costs. Johnson replied that once federal aid is given for the project, federal officials would like to see progress in getting it built.

Delzer said the Budget Section was usurping the Legislature's authority by approving the higher spending. He has raised similar objections on different spending questions in earlier meetings.

The section has 45 members compared to 141 in the entire Legislature. It is made up of legislative floor leaders from both parties along with the members of the state House and Senate appropriations committees.

"Again, I have to state my disappointment, and, I think, disillusionment and dissatisfaction about what we're doing to the rest of the legislative body when this section takes up issues that really should come before the whole Legislature," Delzer said.