URI racks up $400M in delayed capital projects, maintenance

04/08/09 - The University of Rhode Island has about $400 million worth of deferred campus maintenance projects, and according to Vice President of Administration Robert Weygand, there's no end in sight. The $400 million figure comes from a Sightlines report, a Connecticut-based facilities management consulting firm hired by URI to review the physical condition of campus buildings and the costs associated with improvements.

The university should be spending $9 to $13 million on maintenance, but is given closer to $4.5 million per year from the state, Weygand said. The total figure for this year was $4.4 million.

The figure represents the gradual buildup of the difference between the amount of money spent each year and the amount that should be spent, he said.

"Every year we're falling behind $7 million, $8 million, and you just build up over a period of time because after 20 years all of a sudden it's real money," Weygand explained.

The best course of action in addressing the problem would be to set aside university money to supplement the state funds, Weygand said.

But because of a decrease in state funding, this money would have to come from increases in tuition and fees, "which we don't think we can do at this time," he said.

This means that the university will continue to delay projects, and the maintenance deficit will continue to grow.

Though Weygand said the state of maintenance on the campus is similar to those of other universities, the University of Connecticut, a comparable institution of higher education, has about $218 million in deferred maintenance and capital projects on its Storrs campus as of March 2009, according to its Web site. UConn has approximately double the number of buildings on its Storrs campus than URI does on its Kingston campus.

He compared the campus to an old automobile. "[The car] still runs pretty well . but you know that in a little bit that muffler's going to go, or you need to do some things there, and we're just pushing off the inevitable," Weygand said. "And we shouldn't be doing that, but unfortunately, because of our fiscal situation we must."

This deferred maintenance does not represent any imminent danger, nor is it an unusual figure for a public institution, he said.

"The buildings are not falling down, they're in good shape, it's just that if you want to keep them in good shape all the time you should be doing annual maintenance on [them]," Weygand said.

The university compiles an annual list of asset protection projects to be carried out with the state funds, including major projects such as roof maintenance, fire code upgrades, asbestos abatement and electric utility repairs.

The list is compiled through the Asset Protection Committee, which must winnow down what may be $30- to $40-million worth of requests to what can be covered through the funds available, Weygand said.

Paul Depace, director of Capital Projects, agreed more money is required for asset protection.

This year's asset protection budget is $5.2 million, including funding from projects carrying over from last year, Depace said.

Depace said that he would like to see this number doubled, but stressed that this represents an ideal figure rather than an absolute necessity.

No roofs, for instance, will be falling in, and "nothing is in the catastrophic mode," he said.

"You would love to be able to have the best parking lots, the best roadways, the best drainage systems, the best roofs, the best windows," he said. "You want all those things to be looking good and there are other priorities on the campus.