MnSCU Board to request $186 million in capital funds Half of 1998 capital budget for HEAPR projects

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) Board of Trustees approved a strategic capital program of 23 priority projects, totaling $186 million. The capital program will be submitted to the state Finance Department, which will help Governor Arne Carlson prepare his recommendations for the 1998 legislative session.

The largest single category in the request comprises projects that preserve and maintain current buildings. The trustees assigned $91 million for projects on all 53 campuses to rectify fire and life safety problems, to replace or repair roofs and to improve general conditions such as air quality. Sixteen million dollars in the HEAPR (Higher Education Asset Preservation and Renewal) request are earmarked for the Moorhead campus where significant preservation projects are needed.

Besides HEAPR projects, the MnSCU request includes:

• $46.4 million to take advantage of consolidation opportunities, with $16 million for the Hibbing Community College and another $15 million to provide planning funds for facility recommendations stemming from the metropolitan area planning study that is due in early 1998.
• $26.5 million for program enhancements, including $12 million for construction of a new instructional building at Inver Hills Community College and $10 million for selective remodeling projects to complete the master plan for St. Paul Technical College.
• $17.3 million for facility revitalization and replacement, of which $11 million is for renovation and restoration of indoor and outdoor student athletic facilities at Mankato State University.

The MnSCU request includes two systemwide priority programs for creating a MnSCU facility master plan and a land bank program. The facility fund provides planning money for the colleges and universities to update facility master plans that are either near the end of their planning horizon or not applicable due to mergers. The land bank designates funds for the purchase of land adjacent to or in the vicinity of campuses that could be used for future development.

The $15 million metro area request could include the phased remodeling of the Anoka-Hennepin Technical College in Anoka. College officials from Anoka-Hennepin had asked for a $21 million authorization in the next biennium, but the board decided to complete the metro plan study currently underway before committing the entire amount for the renovation.

Several colleges in the system are constructing, remodeling or planning library facilities, including the Hutchinson campus of Ridgewater College, the Thief River Falls campus of Northland Community and Technical College, the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, the Mesabi Range Community and Technical College in Virginia and St. Paul Technical College. Southwest State University in Marshall and Metropolitan State University are also planning new libraries.

Bemidji State University is in the final design stage for a new library, and construction will begin later this year. St. Cloud State University and Winona State University also have library projects underway.

The board set recommendations for bonding capacity over the next two biennia. The overall strategic capital program for 1998 to 2003 totalled $480.6 million.