State board vote pushed back for member concerns
Renovations to the Women’s Quadrangle could be held up as a vote by the state Budget and Control Board to approve them was delayed Tuesday.
A member of the board still had questions about the $27.2 million project as the $34 million bond to pay for it was about to go up for approval, so USC requested to push the vote back.
The delay could cause issues for the project.
The state budget board isn’t scheduled to meet until May 7, around when USC officials had planned to start upgrading the three residence halls.
That could delay the start of the work, which is already expected to close the dorms next year, according to an email from university spokesman Wes Hickman. They were expected to open in time for Fall 2014.
How it will affect the construction schedule isn’t yet clear, according to Hickman, and officials haven’t decided yet how they’ll react.
The Daily Gamecock called and emailed Hickman repeatedly to elaborate on his email Tuesday evening but did not receive a response.
USC has two key options: delay the start time of the project by a year and begin work in 2014 or see if contractors could speed up their work to finish in time for a Fall 2014 opening, The State reported.
The Budget and Control Board could also hold a special meeting before May, a possibility for which there may be some support on the five-member panel.
Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, for example, is open to the idea, according to his spokesman, Eric Ward.
“I think he would even call for one himself,” Ward said.
The move to delay the vote caused confusion at the meeting Tuesday morning. Ward said Eckstrom hadn’t expected concerns to hold up the project and didn’t know whose questions had caused it.
Later Tuesday, The State identified Rep. Brian White, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, as the member who caused the holdup, saying he has questions about university debt and the effect of federal fiscal issues. Repeated efforts to reach White for comment were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Other board members have shared similar qualms with state projects.
Treasurer Curtis Loftis has focused on keeping projects on budget and avoiding buildings that are “overly fancy,” according to Brian DeRoy, his spokesman.
And Eckstrom has cautioned universities and state agencies that come before the Budget and Control Board to think carefully about the projects they bring, Ward said.
The board hears USC projects worth more than $500,000 and is the last of a six-step approval process.
Eckstrom’s concerned there’s a lot that remains to be seen about the federal fiscal environment, which has seen recent debates and uncertainty over the fiscal cliff, debt ceiling and sequestration cuts, Ward said. How those factors will affect tuition and enrollment, for example, isn’t yet known.
But Eckstrom has visited the Women’s Quadrangle a few times and thought it was different — a health and safety issue, not a superfluous expansion — Ward said.
Last fall, some residents of Sims were moved out because mold was growing in their rooms. The three buildings were constructed between 1939 and 1959.
“[Eckstrom] was in the basement of one of them, and he didn’t want to stay there very long, because he just didn’t feel like it was safe with the mold,” Ward said.
The uncertainty of outside forces could also affect how much debt USC can take on in the future, according to an analysis by Barclays released last month.
USC has $512.8 million in debt, and it’s capable of taking on more, according to the report, but federal fiscal questions or changes in state funding could affect that.
Still, USC has made plans to add more, and the growing total has drawn concern from USC trustees at recent meetings.
Last week, trustees OK’d up to $48.1 million in bonds for a new law school building and a $14.6 million indoor football practice facility, which would be paid for in part by $12.1 million in athletics debt.
They also approved a tentative list of projects USC could one day pursue, including athletics facilities, a $27 million health center and a $29.3 million renovation of Bates West.