The Ohio legislature has passed a bill that allocates $18.6 million to Ohio University’s Athens campus for the purpose of fixing the university’s aging infrastructure.
If approved by the governor, the bill would go into effect for the 2013–14 biennium. In addition to the $18.6 million for the Athens campus, the bill contains $3.9 million in funding for infrastructure repairs and updates on OU’s regional campuses.
“We should receive (the bill) shortly, and the governor is prepared to sign it when we do,” said Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. “We feel good about it.”
The state has not passed a capital bill since 2008.
"That is great news for OU and the state of Ohio,” OU President Roderick McDavis said. “This is a big deal. We are certainly grateful for the House and Senate as well as the governor.”
This year, Kasich ditched the state’s traditional formula for allocating funding for university capital projects. Instead of using the old formula, which was based on the total square-footage of each university’s buildings, Kasich convened a committee to collaboratively decide on which higher-education capital projects would receive funding.
The plan created by the Ohio Higher Education Capital Funding Collaborative contains $400 million in funding for state colleges and universities. The capital funding committee was headed by Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee, and took recommendations from each public college and university in Ohio to decide which projects should receive funding.
“I thought this was a very fair process, a way to prioritize the needs of universities and community colleges across the state,” McDavis said in February. “We’re very pleased with the inclusive process.”
Projects planned for OU include air handler replacement at Alden Library; steam pipe replacement at Lindley Hall; roof and ramp repair for The Convo; replacement of the turf and track material at Pruitt Field; and roof repair for the academic buildings on West Green. Each project is slated to receive more than $1 million from the state.
The appropriations for OU did not change as the bill made its way through the Ohio House and Senate, according to a copy of the bill posted on the state legislature’s website.
The committee submitted the initial plan to Kasich in February.
“What we were able to achieve in this capital bill is unprecedented,” Kasich said during a conference call in February. “It is really a change, and I’m thrilled with it.”
pe219007@ohiou.edu
