UNR president stands by fire academy plan

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 | 9:16 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Despite criticism from some regents, University of Nevada, Reno, President John Lilley said Monday that he is "cautiously optimistic" the board will approve his plan to raise student fees to bail out the troubled Fire Science Academy.

The regents meet this week in Las Vegas to consider Lilley's plan, which would use $30 million in revenue bonds to pay off the fire academy in Carlin and take out a $8.5 million bank loan. The plan to save the academy, which will be a drain on student or state resources for the next 30 years, includes redirecting funds from UNR's library and increasing student fees.

"None of us are happy," Lilley said of the plan to boost student fees by $2 a unit and redirecting other student fees to pay off the academy.

Lilley said a court-approved settlement requires the university to pay $30 million by May 1 to GMAC to take ownership of the academy in Carlin that was closed because of environmental problems. And he will need another $8.5 million to get the academy back in shape by May 2003 so it can start accepting firefighters in the advance-training course.

But some regents doubt Lilley can garner the six votes on the board he needs to pass the plan.

Regent Steve Sisolak of Las Vegas said the four regents from Northern Nevada support Lilley, "but I don't know if he can get two votes from Southern Nevada."

Sisolak said Monday he wants to see a list of properties that the school owns and may sell. He said Lilley has not proposed cutting administration or faculty pay. "It's easy to dump this on the students," complained Lilley.

Some regents say the students should not have to bear the cost for the problems at the academy that trains professional firefighters.

The fire academy, Lilley said, is more important after the events of Sept. 11, in training professional firefighters in new techniques to combat terrorist attacks. The revenue from the operation would be able to meet ongoing costs but not to pay off the debt, he said.

"(Lilley) better plan on doing something else," Sisolak said. Board of Regents Chairwoman Thalia Dondero and Regent Tom Kirkpatrick, both of Las Vegas, have expressed reservations about boosting the student fees.

If the school doesn't honor the settlement, GMAC would be free to seek a court judgment to attach assets of the university, Lilley said. In addition, that would jeopardize the bond rating of the school, forcing it to pay higher interest rates in the future when it borrows money.

A number of other alternatives have been studied, but they are not viable, Lilley said in conversations with reporters in Carson City Monday.

And he has been talking with leaders of the Legislature in hopes the state will take over this cost from the students in the future. He also intends to speak with Gov. Kenny Guinn to convince him to put it in his budget.

To pay off the debt, Lilley proposes taking an existing $1 student per credit hour fee for fiscal year 2002 and redirecting it away from funding a new library at UNR to help pay off the debt at the fire academy. In fiscal 2003, there would be an increase of an additional $1 student per credit hour fee.

There would be an emergency surcharge of a $2 per credit hour fee also in fiscal year 2003. And regular fee increases in 2004 of an expected $2 and in 2005 of $3 would be directed toward paying off the debt.

Lilley hopes to convince the Legislature to allocate money in 2004 and 2005 that would allow the university to avoid tacking on the added fee.

The president said diverting student fees away from construction of the $66 million proposed new library would not delay the project. The state is chipping in one-third; one-third will come from private donations and one-third from student fees.

Lilley said the school has not yet raised the money for private donations but has until 2004.

The president said he has looked at dipping into the state's estate tax fund; the university's endowment funds, sale of properties owned by the university, private fund-raising and reallocating money within the university.

Lilley says he has "no way to promise" that the student fee increases will not be permanent but added he will do everything to persuade the Legislature next session to give relief to the school. He noted that Nevada has the "cheapest" tuition among originally universities in each state. For instance, Penn State charges a student $7,000 a year while it is only $2,500 in Nevada, he said.