University system eyes money to fix aging buildings

By Ryan Dailey
News Service of Florida

Pointing to aging classroom buildings, the state university system’s Board of Governors is in talks to request $800 million from state lawmakers for projects intended to fix facility problems at most universities.

The board voted last Thursday to hold a special meeting before the 2022 legislative session to amend a budget request to include the additional building maintenance funding. The legislative session will start Jan. 11.

“These are assets of the state of Florida that have not been maintained,” board member Eric Silagy said during a meeting of the board’s Facilities Committee. “And let’s be honest, this issue has been going on for decades.”

A deferred maintenance task force convened in 1986 calculated that the average age of buildings in the university system was 21 years. A subsequent task force in 1998 said the average age of buildings was 24 years.

State university facilities take up nearly 100 million square feet of land, with about 41 million square feet made up of “education and general facilities” that include classrooms, labs, gymnasiums and offices. The board’s budget request will be aimed at providing maintenance for the education-related buildings.

“Generally speaking, non-(educational and general) facilities are self-supporting; they generate revenues that, in turn, fund operations and upkeep, whereas (education and general) facilities are dependent on state appropriated dollars for funding operations and, importantly, upkeep,” a document published on the Board of Governors’ website said.

In a survey conducted by the board, universities said they had a backlog of more than $1.8 billion in maintenance projects. Only one out of the state’s 12 universities, Florida Polytechnic University, reported having no needed building maintenance projects. Florida Polytechnic is the newest university in the system.

Kevin Pichard, director of finance and facilities for the university system, said the universities’ self-reporting included projects that didn’t necessarily fall under the category of deferred maintenance.

“The $1.8 billion figure is deferred maintenance, it is the broken latches, it’s the oil changes,” Pichard said, comparing the universities’ needs to car maintenance. “But it’s also the 150,000-mile engine that needs replacement, it’s projected capital needs.”

The board decided to consider making a $800 million request based in part on a report presented last Thursday that said the university system has a backlog of nearly $747 million in maintenance costs.

At its previous meeting, the board approved a legislative budget request that included about $39 million in funding to go toward deferred building maintenance.

“Think about that for a second, you’ve got $40 million for 40 million square feet, that’s less than a dollar a square foot to deal with deferred maintenance. It was actually supposed to just upkeep the plan. Now, I‘m not a rocket scientist, but less than a buck a square foot is not going to maintain your plan,” Pichard said.

Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, asked Gov. Ron DeSantis’ budget director last Thursday about universities’ building maintenance needs during a Joint Legislative Budget Commission meeting.

Chris Spencer, director of policy and budget for the governor, said the state is anticipating receiving federal stimulus funds under the American Rescue Plan Act that could provide money for maintenance projects at the schools.

“Those funds would be available for state college or university projects for further consideration of an additional project list in the future,” Spencer said. “Again, the governor has not yet released his budget, but there’s always an opportunity for the Legislature to consider projects for the university system and the state college system.”