OU officials move ahead with building plans despite funding cut

by Brittany Yingling and Colleen Schmidt
Staff Writers

**Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series about capital improvements on Ohio University’s Athens campus.**

A $6 million slice in state funding to Ohio University will not stop OU officials from erecting buildings, carving out a new park and roadway and renovating aging facilities to improve the campus during the next few years.

A series of eight projects, estimated to cost more than $60 million, is slated for completion by 2004. OU officials will combine state dollars, university funds and gifts from donors to cover costs.

Capital funding from the state, which helps fund renovations and additions to campus, is not affected by economic shifts, said Dick Siemer, OU treasurer and vice president for finance. The capital budget makes up 5 percent of Ohio’s total operating budget.

The state’s total budget includes $45.7 billion in available money for the current fiscal year, according to the state’s Office of Budgetary Management.

“(The capital budget) is less sensitive to the changes,” Siemer said. “(The economic recession) does not force them to make cuts in the capital budget.”

The funding is more stable because it is based on income from selling state bonds, not tax revenue, OU spokeswoman Leesa Brown said.

The state grants OU about $25 million every two years with an additional $10 million for regional campuses from the capital budget, Siemer said.

“The state is investing probably about half of what we need,” Siemer said.

State money increases in proportion to the number of students a public university enrolls, said John Kotowski, OU director of facilities planning.

“We tend to always use state capital dollars for academic buildings,” Kotowski said. “But this doesn’t have to be the case.”

OU benefits from making improvements to existing buildings rather than constructing new facilities because renovations generally cost less, Kotowski said.

“Because we’re an old university, we actually fare fairly well because of the age of most of our buildings,” he said.

When the state does not contribute the total cost for a project, OU officials rely on donations. Bond issues also help foot the bills for projects.

For example, a $5 million gift from a former OU Board of Trustees member and his wife will help fund a new $10 million building on campus.

When making additions and renovations, OU officials try to maintain the campus’s traditional red-brick style as well as increase landscaping and green space, said Gary North, vice president for administration.