Lawmakers rush to rescue Auraria science building
By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 11:11 a.m., March 25, 2008
Updated 12:16 p.m., March 25, 2008
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Key lawmakers are on the verge of announcing a way to fund construction of the new science building on the Auraria campus after all.
"They found another source of funding for it," House Speaker Andrew Romanoff told the Rocky this morning.
Romanoff, D-Denver, added that he and others plan to announce the solution today.
Higher education officials cried foul after legislators reversed course last Thursday and decided not to continue funding the $111 million project. The decision came in response to new revenue forecasts that the state would receive $700 million less over the next five years than predicted.
Construction on the first, $35 million phase of the project began in December. The university had expected to receive another $37.5 million in next year's budget.
But the Joint Budget and Capital Development committees decided at the last minute to instead only fund projects that could be completed next year, since it looked like funds would dry up completely for at least two to three years after that.
Committee Chairman Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said this morning he is furiously ironing out new legislation that could rescue the science building project.
Details at this point are not completely fleshed out. But the solution would involve the passage of two bills, both authored by Buescher.
The first, co-authored by Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, would reroute federal mineral lease revenue growth into higher education capital construction projects, authorizing the state to use the money to borrow about $200 million for projects such as the Auraria science building.
The second bill, which Buescher is drafting this morning, would authorize the state to issue certificates of participation - in essence, allowing the state to borrow money to pay for the rest of the science building specifically.
"We're close but I need to understand some of the technical aspects for this," Buescher said as he rushed through the Capitol hallways. "We're working hard."
Metro State president Stephen Jordan told several lawmakers at the Capitol this morning that the campus is at 98 percent capacity and that the building is absolutely necessary.
The project would double the space available for laboratory classes, and renovate the existing lab building, which is poorly ventilated and thus a danger to students, he said.
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