Editorial: Delay OK in light of priorities

Monday, Sept. 30, 2002 | 8:59 a.m.

The state Public Works Board earlier this month recommended a two-year delay in granting funding for a new science and engineering building at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. University officials vigorously protested the recommendation, arguing that the building represents long-term economic gain for Nevada. It would attract top-notch scientists and engineers, whose presence and research would be an inducement for high-tech engineering businesses and biotechnology companies to move to Nevada.

University officials promised a sustained lobbying effort and delivered on that promise. The Public Works Board met again last week and this time three Southern Nevada members pushed hard for the building to be funded immediately as a top priority. It was the job of UNLV to push for this project and their arguments are sound. According to the Biotechnology Industry Organization, revenues in this field went from $8 billion in 1992 to $27.6 billion in 2001, and today there are nearly 1,500 biotechnology companies in the United States. The industry develops new drugs and vaccines, medical diagnostic tests, pesticides and fertilizers, microbes that attack pollution, DNA fingerprinting techniques, and hundreds of other techniques and products. A fusion of high-tech and biotechnology is a promising vision for Nevada and we support UNLV's efforts to help bring it about.

Nevertheless, despite the lobbying by its Southern Nevada members, we support the Public Works Board for sticking with its original decision to delay funding. UNLV is asking the state to provide $35 million of the 170,000-square-foot building's total cost, which could be $75 million or more. The 2003 Legislature, however, must fund buildings that in our view have a higher priority -- among them a 150-bed psychiatric hospital for Clark County.

We believe the new building for UNLV is necessary and should be funded as a top priority by the 2005 Legislature, which state budget analysts say will be in a better position to take on that debt. Additionally, the delay isn't as bad as it sounds. UNLV received $8.8 million from the 2001 Legislature to design the building, a process that is far from complete. The two-year delay in funding is expected to delay the actual construction by only six months. Gov. Kenny Guinn has the power to reverse the Public Works Board, but we hope he concludes that a six-month construction delay is acceptable in light of the state's other building priorities.