Roof repairs require questionable state funding

Facilities management has been working throughout the fall and will continue through spring to complete necessary campus roof repairs, relying on operating funds instead of capital renewal money that was appropriated four fiscal years ago.

A roofing firm evaluated the roofs in 2007 to determine which ones needed the most attention. According to Gary Bryan, director of maintenance and construction for Facilities Management, most of the repairs will be completed by the end of this fall. These repairs cost anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000.

The largest maintenance item is the retarring of the Science Building, which will be completed in the spring. Complete roof replacements, including the replacement of the PE building, could cost up to a million dollars, according to Bryan. This is where the capital renewal money would go.

Northeastern Illinois University was appropriated capital renewal money in 2004, but the money has yet to be released by the state government. This is because there isn't enough bonding authority to back the release of the money, according to Vice President for Finance and Administration Mark Wilcockson.

In order to receive capital renewal money from the state, a new capital plan would need to be passed.

"We're confident that the state will get a capital plan passed, said Wilcockson., "but how they'll treat old appropriations once it's passed, I don't know."

"They might pass a whole new set of appropriations and pass bonding to fund those new appropriations and kind of ignore the old ones," said Wilcockson.

Until the school receives capital renewal, Facilities Management must rely on operating funds to complete any repairs. This means that money that would usually fund projects like the establishment of student lounges, such as the one on the first floor of the classroom building, would instead be used to fund any necessary repairs.