Ohio University officials estimate delayed campus maintenance projects at as much as half a billion dollars, and the backlog will become larger with a tightening state budget and continuing economic free fall.
Millions of dollars in basic upkeep around campus have been deferred as the university has struggled to stretch state appropriations and attract donors to regular maintenance projects and has committed money toward expansion or renovation.
The biggest areas of deferred maintenance are the heating and cooling ventilation systems in dorm rooms and lecture halls, and general finishes
which include repairs to damaged floors, walls and ceilings, said Harry Wyatt, associate vice president for Facilities. More must be done to prioritize these projects, he added.
We would put off repairs until something has to be done Wyatt said. Buildings may look more shabby and outages more difficult to accommodate.
Conducting maintenance on OU's buildings proves difficult because of their age and lower quality of construction, a problem OU shares with other universities, Wyatt said.
Most of College Green was constructed in the early 1900s. All of East Green was completed in the 1950s while most of West and South greens were built throughout the 1960s and 1970s. OU also has a number of much older facilities, including Cutler, McGuffey and Wilson halls, which pre-date the Civil War.
Many of these buildings were constructed hastily to accommodate new students during the post-war expansion of universities spurred by rapid enrollment increases, Wyatt said.
But officials say the biggest problem is the reluctance of donors to put money toward standard maintenance and meager state appropriations for upkeep.
In general donors have more of an emphasis on building than renovation
Wyatt said.
The state allots OU a $30 million biennial allowance for renovation and maintenance of its infrastructure. After committing the bulk of the money for the higher-priority major rehabilitation and reconfiguration of facilities, typically about $6 million to $7 million remains for deferred maintenance and urgent needs, Wyatt said.
The tricky thing about reconfiguration is
how much of that money is going to fixing roofs and walls
and how much of it is going to reorganizing facilities for new uses? Wyatt said.
Some current rehabilitation projects include the Lausche Heating Plant, Alden Library and installing air conditioning equipment and fire alarms.
University Planning and Implementation identifies between $15 million and $20 million in deferred maintenance and urgent projects annually. Maintenance officials then have the very difficult task of stretching money leftover from renovations on these projects, Wyatt said.
Priority items this year include reworking the sidewalks on College Green and restoring severely deteriorated roofs, walkways, lights and concrete.
Officials said conservative estimates put the maintenance backlog at $250 million, but Richard Shultz, director of Implementation, estimated that the number is closer to $500 million.
One way to keep deferred maintenance in check is to hold off on constructing new facilities, Wyatt said.
I would recommend that we build less new space and put more funding into rehabilitating existing utilization of space
he said. He pointed to projects such as Baker University Center and the Academic and Research Center as examples of new space that add to maintenance costs and divert attention from other needs.
He also said attracting more donors to give money toward maintenance would help.
When building
it would be good to seek gift money for the project in addition to an endowment for maintaining it; this would essentially be a lifetime maintenance bill on the building
he added.
Such endowments must be established while planning for a new building and would not help cover the costs of maintenance on existing buildings, said Tracy Galway, director of Advancement Special Projects.
Gifts for maintenance projects are difficult
Galway said. Most donors tend to give toward those projects that have special importance to them.
Officials said they do not hold out much hope for the future, with a tightening state budget and economic recession.
(The backlog) will only become larger
Shultz said.
Wyatt cautioned if the backlog continues to grow, infrastructure will degrade even further, and when it breaks down, the damage will be more catastrophic than normal. However, he said he hoped that the financial constraints would be a wake-up call for those managing the infrastructure.
I hope that we as a campus as a whole will be more efficient about how we use our resources
