Topeka ? Federal stimulus efforts are touching even a floor-by-floor renovation of the Kansas Statehouse, a project that began years before the nation’s current downturn.

Kansas is taking advantage of a program created by this year’s stimulus legislation to lower borrowing costs for the $285 million restoration. It is financing the 12-year project with bonds and expects to save $840,000 in interest costs through the Build America Bonds program.

The state plans to issue nearly $39 million worth of bonds this month for the renovation, an installment approved by the Legislature earlier this year. That’s not enough to finish the work, but it will allow the state to start the fourth and final phase of the renovation.

“If we can save some money, that’s very important,” Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican, said Friday.

The Build America Bonds program lets state and local governments offer investors higher interest rates, then covers 35 percent of the issuer’s interest costs, resulting in a net savings.

But Sen. Chris Steineger, a Kansas City Democrat who’s a strong critic of the renovation, was skeptical of the state’s plans. He said taking advantage of the stimulus program will add to the massive federal budget deficit. And if the state had done a better job of managing the renovation, he said, it might not have needed the bonds about to be issued.

“The underlying problem is that the Capitol renovation project is out of control,” Steineger said. “This is not creating new jobs.”

Gov. Mark Parkinson doesn’t believe the renovation has been poorly managed, said spokeswoman Beth Martino. He’s also supported the stimulus efforts championed by President Barack Obama.

“The use of these bonds is another way the Recovery Act is ensuring that work can continue on important projects,” she said.

Legislators approved the renovation in 2000 because the Statehouse’s wiring, plumbing, heating and air conditioning were decades out of date. They also wanted better meeting rooms and more office space.

Construction work began in 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the state expects to finish it in 2012.

The cost has been a sore point for some, including Steineger. Before the renovation, one report estimated its total cost at $90 million to $120 million, but legislators later added an underground parking garage, a visitors’ center and new basement office space to the plans.

When the state’s budget problems began last fall, some legislators suggested putting the project on hold. Others said pulling the 120 workers off the job and bringing them back later would only escalate the costs.

Martino said the bond program is an example of how the federal stimulus is preserving existing jobs. But Steineger said state officials were determined to continue the work even before the bond program was created.

Because legislators have authorized bonds for the renovation in installments, the latest ones were eligible for the stimulus program.

“It does provide some savings that we should take advantage of,” said Steve Weatherford, president of the Kansas Development Finance Authority, the agency handling most of the state’s bonds.