Posted on: Friday, September 3, 2004
UH to request more money
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
The University of Hawai'i administration has proposed that the 10-campus system receive an additional $64.9 million in operating money and $303.7 million in construction money over the next two years, in a first draft proposal discussed yesterday with members of the Board of Regents.
The proposal is up for action by the regents at its next meeting before it is sent to the governor's office and state budget office for discussion and then submitted to the Legislature for the coming biennium budget. In the past, proposals have undergone considerable change in that process.
Last year, for instance, UH was rebuffed in its request for an additional $20 million and 100 job positions — an amount that dropped to $1.06 million after going through the state budget office.
Acting President David McClain told board members yesterday that this first draft proposal "represents the university administration's best assessment of the public funds required to finance the hopes for our state and our citizens represented in the university's strategic plan."
In requesting the increased financing, the proposal focuses on four key priorities for the university system: serving Native Hawaiians; addressing infrastructure, repair and maintenance needs; expanding work force development and economic diversification initiatives; and responding to the enrollment surge of the past few years.
Priorities for the construction projects include:
• Health and safety projects. • Capital renewal and deferred maintenance projects. • Infrastructure improvements. • A Hawaiian language building at UH-Hilo. • Student housing improvements for UH-Manoa • Repairs to Lyon Arboretum • Upgrades to facilities at the seven community colleges and UH-West O'ahu. In the last supplemental budget session legislators sent a $100.2 million package of capital improvement projects for the university to the governor for her signature. Those projects were far beyond the package she had sent down to legislators totaling $25 million in CIP financing.
In terms of operating costs, the university has seen fairly flat state money, with small increases over the past couple of years in the range of 2 percent two years ago and less last year. On the flip side, research money through federal grants has been growing dramatically to more than $300 million annually, from a little over half of that four years ago.
The university's budget hovers around $600 million annually, but much of that money goes to salaries or other automatic "pass through" costs.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
