March 20-21, 2003

ITEM 118-2003-R0303   Authority-Only: Long Range Building Program Request Presented to Montana Legislature; Montana State University

THAT: The Board of Regents of the Montana University System acknowledges that the following Authority-Only projects were submitted to the legislature by Montana State University.

EXPLANATION: 1. Each agency is required to submit a proposed Long Range Building Program request to the Department of Administration. Projects were originally submitted in early June, 2002. The Board of Regents prioritize projects requesting state funding, however, all the Authority-Only projects are included at the end of the list, without prioritization.

2. Changing circumstances required that MSU make several changes to MSU's Authority-Only requests:

a. Planning and fund raising for the Animal Bioscience Building project did not progress as quickly as desired, consequently MSU is not ready to pursue an additional $15 million in authority as was anticipated in the June, 2002 submittal. Therefore, this request for authority was withdrawn.

b. Subsequent to the June submittal, MSU was successful in garnering several grants and other non-state funding opportunities for projects that will be best accommodated by securing legislative authority. Therefore, MSU requested authority for $2.5 million, for MSU-All Campuses, for projects to be funded with non-LRBP funding. (This request is identical to the UM request for $3.5 million Authority-Only).

c. Subsequent to the June submittal, the MSU College of Nursing began exploring possibilities for renovating a portion of Sherrick Hall in response to the increasingly critical nursing shortage. Therefore, MSU requested $5 million Authority-Only, to execute the project with non-LRBP funding. This project was not anticipated at the time of the June submittal.

d. Subsequent to the June submittal, the MSU College of Education, Health and Human Development began exploring possibilities for renovating Herrick Hall. Herrick Hall, constructed in the 1920's, has significant deferred maintenance and needs to be modernized to respond to current program delivery needs. Therefore, MSU requested $10 million Authority-Only, to execute a project with non-LRBP funding. This project was not anticipated at the time of the June submittal.

 

ATTACHMENT Handout submitted to the LRBP Joint Subcommittee