State budget cuts are halting at least a dozen University of Florida building projects, but don't expect construction equipment to disappear from campus.
Gov. Charlie Crist signed a state budget into law Wednesday that slashed a program providing matching grants for the construction or renovation of academic buildings. UF was denied nearly $27 million in grants for projects such as an Asian art wing of the Harn Museum of Art and the construction of a graduate studies building.
"The donors want their buildings built and we need the space,"
said Ed Poppell, UF's vice president for business affairs. "Hopefully, this is just a temporary situation."
While the cuts could delay the dozen projects by a year or more, the university is proceeding with construction funded through other sources. Those projects include some funded by student fees and taxes on utilities, as well as others funded through the university's nonprofit direct support organizations.
The University Athletic Association, which runs athletic programs, is preparing to renovate the third and fourth floors in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The project, budgeted at nearly $4.5 million, will renovate offices for the information technology and sports information staff.
The project comes on the heels of a $28 million stadium overhaul expected to be completed this month, which includes renovated offices for football coaches, an expanded weight room and new "front door"
that includes a trophy room.
The front-door project was funded entirely by booster donations, said Greg McGarity, UF's executive senior associate athletic director. The new renovations will be funded by athletic revenues unless donations can be raised, he said, which might be a more difficult proposition for the lower-profile project.
"It's not as glamorous, obviously, as the football front door,"
he said. "Probably the majority of individuals that come to our campus will never come to the third and fourth floors."
UF's Board of Trustees this week will consider borrowing $15.45 million from the UF Foundation to construct an office building at the Eastside Campus on Waldo Road. The four-story, 80,000-square-foot building will allow the university to move administrative functions off the main campus and use the on-campus space for research, Poppell said.
The foundation also recently made a $2.05 million purchase of a gas station at W. University Avenue and SW 13th Street. Poppell said a decision hasn't yet been made about what to do with the property, which could be combined with a property that the university owns next door.
While the foundation, the university's nonprofit fund-raising arm, does have enough money to underwrite a possible loan to UF trustees for the East Campus office building, it has a limited amount of revenues that are not tied to a specific purpose, says Leslie Bram, the UF Foundation's associate vice president and chief operating officer. The money includes excess return on investments and auto tag revenues.
She said such funds are typically used for one-time projects, not recurring expenses such as programs impacted by UF's $47 million in budget cuts. Currently, the money is committed on behalf of the university for a series of items, she said, including loans to assist in upgrades of fraternity and sorority facilities.
"Right now, all of our assets are spoken for,"
she said.
That means UF is relying on state funding for other building projects. There are three state funding programs for construction, two of which are unaffected by budget cuts.
The Capital Improvement Trust Fund collects student fees to fund capital projects, distributing money every three or four years. This happened to be one of those years, with UF receiving nearly $19 million in funding for projects including an expansion to the Southwest Recreational Center, the Flavet Field band shell renovation and the renovation of the O'Connell Center weight room.
The Public Education Capital Outlay collects a tax on the gross receipts of utilities to fund the building of education facilities. This year, the university received $65.4 million for projects including a Veterinary Education and Clinical Research Center, Biomedical Sciences Building and Chemistry/Chemical Biology Building.
Cuts affected just the Alec P. Courtelis program, which gives grants for the construction or renovation of academic buildings. While universities requested nearly $68.4 million, the state provided about $4.9 million.
Since 1979, the program has provided dollar-for-dollar matching grants equal to donations given to universities for big-ticket projects. Bram said the program failed to fulfill funding requests in just one previous year, but now there's a possibility it could lack money for two years in a row.
"We're pretty much on hold,"
she said.
This year, UF submitted 15 projects and received money for two: $150,000 to renovate storage space at the Harn Museum and $10,000 for the Range Cattle Research and Education Center in Ona. The university was denied matching funds for several high-profile gifts.
Last year, St. Petersburg financial consultant William R. Hough donated $30 million to graduate business programs in what was the largest cash gift in university history. UF was seeking nearly $9.8 million to match funding for a hall to be named in Hough's honor.
This year, Gainesville's David Cofrin and his wife Mary Ann donated $10 million to fund the addition of a Harn Museum wing dedicated to Asian art. UF was seeking an equal amount for the project.
Of the 13 unfunded projects, Bram said just the construction of the Levin College of Law Advocacy Center seems likely to move forward in the near future.
Pensacola attorney Frederick Levin gave $2 million in 2006 for the advocacy center, which will be named for his son Martin.
UF was seeking $415,000 in matching funds for the third phase of building the center. Law School Dean Robert Jerry said he will pursue private donations or use the school's endowment to loan enough money to the project to allow construction to begin.
"We're very close to the finish line,"
he said.
Poppell said the university will seek alternative funding for the other projects on the request list. If delays mean project costs rise, he said, the size of buildings can be reduced or other changes made.
The state's economic downturn could mean another year in which the program is not funded, he said.
"I would think this economy is going to have to get better for something like that to get funded next year,"
he said.
