ANNAPOLIS – Administrators were hardly surprised when analysts of the university’s construction budget recommended delaying funds for renovations to the Tawes Fine Arts Building — adding another year of waiting for a project needed since 1991.
University President Dan Mote urged delegates to reject the analysts’ recommendation to defer the $850,000 in bonds — money needed to plan the overhaul of the building scheduled to house the English department.
Analysts for the state’s Department of Legislative Services have recommended deferring many other new projects this year until the Maryland General Assembly finds a solution for funding public K-12 school construction, legislative analyst Monica Kearns said. Mote called it “political strategizing” and said he hoped his testimony “let them know we’re not willing to give up on this.”
The English department has been “temporarily” housed in Susquehanna Hall since 1990, Mote said. He called the building’s current capacity “completely unacceptable,” with senior faculty members sharing offices and adjunct faculty assigned three to a desk.
The space in Susquehanna was originally planned to house the department for about 18 months, Mote said, but at best, the department’s stay will be 18 years — “a great achievement at this point,” Mote joked.
The initial funding for the $26.6 million project was originally scheduled to be ordered in fiscal year 2002, but it has been deferred four years already, Mote said.
Tawes is nearly 50 years old, its classroom space is only 80 percent utilized and its ventilation system is “barely operating,” Mote said. Converting the building for the English department would be more cost-effective than constructing a new building.
Non-budgeted funds, which the university must provide for the project, total $1.8 million. Mote said the university must dig into facilities renewal funds to cover this.
The entire University System of Maryland has a $1.7 billion backlog of deferred maintenance projects, some of which are related to structural repairs and safety issues, the analysis states.
In the university’s operating budget hearings, analysts drew attention to the university’s growing unrestricted fund balance — the total of thousands of accounts used by departments such as Dining Services and Resident Life — and said some of the funds should be used for deferred maintenance.
Vice President for Administrative Affairs John Porcari said the university has been able to fund some maintenance projects from research revenues, but has also had to use operating funds usually reserved for funding day-to-day expenses — not construction and maintenance.
“We’ve used as much of the capital budget as we can, but you need to deal with it on the capital side,” Porcari said.
Legislative Services also recommended approval of a $3.6 million allotment for the biosciences research building under construction between the Biology-Psychology Building and Stamp Student Union. The $71.6 million Biology-Psychology project is scheduled for completion in summer 2006.
