CSU projects feel budget blade

FORT COLLINS — On the job for just nine months, Brian Chase has seen his budget literally cut in half. As director of Colorado State University’s facilities-management department, Chase said the value of construction projects has been slashed from $100 million last year down to about $50 million this year.

“We’ve been told there’ll be no new construction money from the state and we’re told not to expect it for the next three to four years, at least,” Chase said.

In addition to freezing all capital construction spending, the state also cut control maintenance funding for all universities. To CSU, that means it won’t get the $5 million normally allotted for standard equipment repairs and replacement.

“Those funds won’t be there and that’s a real concern,” Chase said. “We’re having to look internally to figure out how to maintain what we have.”

To control spending, many nonessential construction projects have been cut or postponed. For example, the planned renovation of the food court in the Lory Student Center, the remodeling of the student recreation center’s sundeck and several parking-lot upgrades are all postponed indefinitely, and all landscaping projects are on hold for at least a year.

“Still, we have a lot of projects moving forward that are not state-funded,” Chase said.

For example, the university plans to renovate the old Fort Collins High School into a performing-arts center. The $10 million state-funded portion has been cut, but construction on the community-funded, 500-seat concert-hall addition is scheduled to start this spring.

High-priority projects are also moving forward. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education approved a $20 million dormitory slated to be open in time for fall semester 2004, providing rooms for about 700 students.

And Chase said that research conducted by CSU faculty and students continues to draw money from federal agencies.

“Even though state funds are going downhill, federal research funds are going up,” he said.

On the Foothills campus, a $1.28 million laboratory is scheduled for completion in June, and another $10 million laboratory expansion is planned, pending federal grant money. Also on the Foothills campus, the Center for Disease Control is moving forward with construction of an $80 million new facility.

Jim Mellor, vice president of Pinkard Construction in Lakewood, said several of his company’s projects for CSU were spared the governor’s budget axe, simply because they were too far along to be cut. “We started the plant-science renovation right before the governor killed all capital construction projects across the state,” Mellor said. “It was a timing issue. We couldn’t stop in the middle.”

But Pinkard lost $40 million in projects it expected to get from the University of Colorado.

“That was 40 percent of our projected volume for 2002,” Mellor said.

“This year we learned the lesson. We’ve been very cautious with finance projections and hiring decisions until we know for certain that the project will be funded.”

Mick Aller, a principal of Aller-Lingle Architects in Fort Collins, said he hasn’t seen his business suffer because of the cuts.

“We haven’t lost any projects because of state budget cuts,” he said. “Most of the projects we’re working on with CSU are funded by some other method than state-funded monies.” About 30 percent of the firm’s work comes from public-sector projects, he said. Aller-Lingle designed the recently completed Argus Tumor Center on the south campus and renovations in the Plant Sciences and Shepardson buildings. The firm is also designing the new dormitory.

“What I expect going into the future is less opportunity for state projects,” Aller said.

The university currently has $33.2 million invested in projects under construction, $23.9 million in design and $20.9 million in the predesign phase. All of the projects on the books now are likely to see completion, as none of them are reliant on state funding.

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