UNR president recommends paying off fire academy loan

Monday, Oct. 16, 2000 | 9:51 a.m.

The UNR Foundation loaned the money to the university early this year to help the academy through a budget crisis. At the time, fire academy administrators were negotiating with a private benefactor to help bail out the $27 million dollar academy.

The loan was to be used as an advance until the private money became available.

But Crowley said the donor backed away from the pledge after environmental problems caused the university to shut down the facility.

"We had a $1 million pledge from a very reliable donor," Crowley told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "At that point, it was important for us to have that money in hand to make lease payments."

Crowley, who will retire Dec. 31, said UNR needs to formally commit to paying off the debt.

"It seemed very important to me to not leave the foundation hanging," he said.

How to pay back the loan, however, is another matter. Crowley said he was unsure where the money would come over the next five years to repay the foundation.

Nevada regents will consider the loan repayment when they meet Thursday in Carson City.

When it opened in 1999, the Fire Science Academy was hailed as a world-class facility. But it began losing money because of low enrollment and hefty lease payments.

University officials blamed the academy's former director for failing to put a marketing plan into place and for ignoring issues for students to get to the site 20 miles west of Elko off Interstate 80.

To stem the losses, center officials had hoped to raise about $6.5 million in donations over the next five years. They also had hoped aggressive marketing would boost enrollment and create more revenue from tuition and fees.

But those plans hit a major snag in June, when tests showed levels of gasoline additives and components were seeping into the soil at the site.

By the end of the summer, UNR shut down all of the academy's on-site operations, ceased payments to the Sacramento-based landowner firm and filed a lawsuit claiming the owner needs to make millions in environmental repairs.

The owner, All-Star Investments LLC, has filed a countersuit.