Regents might help fund State College in Henderson

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2001 | 11:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The State College in Henderson, whose private fundraising efforts are falling short of predictions, may get some help from the board of regents of the University and Community College System, which meets this month in Reno.

Chancellor Jane Nichols said today an option will be presented to allow the college to borrow about $700,000 from the estate tax to start hiring faculty in the fall to begin classes next year.

A bill for $1 million for start-up costs this year for the proposed college failed to gain passage of the Legislature, and the regents told President Richard Moore to start raising private money to fill the gap. The college got a grant of $240,000 from the LandWell Co. and that is being used to pay the $175,000 salary of Moore and two assistants. But other cash has been slow in coming in. Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, who has led the drive to create the college, said he thought this is "probably a good idea," to use estate tax to get the college off the ground. There is state money in the budget for next fiscal year to start classes but nothing for this year.

The bill in the Legislature for the $1 million "got lost in the shuffle" of closing business said Perkins, adding that lawmakers were not against the bill.

Nichols said Moore has secured a number of "in kind" donations. For instance, the University of Nevada, Reno, is going to help in the recruitment of faculty. And the college foundation is working hard to raise the operations money.

And Moore is looking for grants to help in the financing.

Nichols said the proposed loan would not remove the commitment that Moore must raise the $1 million. The problem is getting the donations in time to start hiring staff.

This proposed loan would not be taken from other campuses or from other programs, she said.

The estate tax fund controlled by the university was estimated to be $123 million as of last June 30th. The Legislature authorized the university to spend $75 million during the next two years. And university officials expect the fund balance to be $95 million as of June 30, 2003.

Perkins said that without this extra $700,000, the "college is set up for failure."

In addition, the college faces another financial hurdle. The state Public Works Board has adopted a policy that it will not start any project until the promised private money is in hand.

The state college is required to raise $10 million for the $26 million first classroom-administration building. Nichols said the foundation is "under the gun" to raise this money.

"The building may be delayed, but hopefully not," she said. Perkins said the failure of the Legislature to approve the $1 million apparently made it more difficult to raise private money. He said some potential donors may see that as a lack of commitment on the part of the state for the project.

The speaker suggested it may be easier to raise the $10 million for the building.