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By Trigie Ealey
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 22, 1996
FLAGSTAFF - After a long debate on the issue of bonding and capital improvement, the Arizona Board of Regents yesterday came to a split decision.On the second day of a two-day meeting at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, the regents approved the bonding with the understanding that projects not yet approved by the board would be placed on hold until the board examines the bonding issue.
The regents were asked to approve the three state universities' proposed multiyear bonding plans for $245.4 million, as required by legislation passed earlier in the year. Once the measure is approved, it must be sent to the Joint Committee on Capital Review at the Arizona State Legislature, and then the governor, for approval.
Student Regent Jonathan Schmitt said he was concerned with the amount of bonding the universities were engaging in.
"It is not just tuition that affects students," Schmitt said. "A quarter of each dollar paid to the university goes to pay debt service. We, as the regents, will be asked to raise tuition, and though (the universities) won't say it's for debt service, it will be."
Included in the University of Arizona's share, totaling nearly $90 million, was $36 million for the 1997 bond sale for the Integrated Instructional Facility, the Agricultural Research Complex and to complete shell space.
The 1998 bond sale projects include $25 million for the Student Union and $18 million for a humanities building/poetry center.
The 1999 bond sale projects include $13 million for a pharmacy building addition and $25 million for Residence Life.
Combining the $89.98 million in new bonding authority with $31.31 million in bonding prior to 1996 totals $121.29 million for the UA alone. Bonding for NAU totals $54.8 million and for Arizona State University, $100 million.
The board approved a request by Regent Donald Ulrich to ask an outside expert to examine how the universities are handling the bonding.
The hold placed on new projects will impact projects now in the early planning stage only. For example, the IIF building has already received regents approval and is in the design stage and will not be impacted by the change, but renovation or reconstruction proposals of the UA Student Union have yet to be presented. That project will be put on hold while this review is under way.
Joel Valdez, UA senior vice president of business affairs, warned against prolonged studies which would delay construction, saying delays can increase costs by 10 to 15 percent.
Ulrich said he wants the board to understand the issue better before voting. In addition, the regents briefly reviewed the fiscal year 1998 capital improvement projects requests.
The requested capital projects for the Arizona university system total $177.7 million. NAU requested $32.75 million, ASU requested just over $86 million to be divided among the ASU Main, East and West campuses, and the UA requested $48.75 million.
Following the regents' approval, the requests then must be forwarded to the Arizona Department of Administration.
The board will further examine bonding and capital improvements at their next meeting on Sept. 26 and 27 at the UA, when they are scheduled to vote on the issues.
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