Guinn proposes $250 million extra for higher education

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 | 9:40 a.m.

Nevada higher education officials said they were scrambling Tuesday to decipher Gov. Kenny Guinn's budget proposals, but they were satisfied that each institution should receive at least 84 percent of its formula funding needs and that several key classroom projects will receive funding.

Guinn's budget includes $250 million in new money for higher education, including money for 2 percent cost of living raises for University and Community College System of Nevada employees, money to help cover the costs of educating about 7,000 new full-time students at the system's eight institutions, and about $82.9 million in state money for capital construction projects.

Guinn is also setting aside $25 million to $30 million in extra estate tax money to pay for "one shot" projects, Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers said. Rogers said expects some of that money will pay for the first liberal arts building at Nevada State College in Henderson and for a new classroom facility at the Community College of Southern Nevada West Charleston campus.

Nevada State College would have faced an uphill battle in securing the remaining $9 million it needs for the classroom facility through the capital construction fund, Rogers said, because it remains a favorite target of some state lawmakers.

For that reason, Rogers took the state's allocation for the building off of the regents' priority list at a meeting earlier this month, promising regents that he was working with the governor to secure the funding through other, more creative sources.

The estate tax allocation would allow regents decide where the system most needs the money, Rogers said, without having to fight with lawmakers for a specific Nevada State College allocation.

A 35-classroom, $10 million CCSN classroom was also added to the capital construction list only a few weeks ago because Rogers said he believed a $30 million, 100-classroom facility already on the list would never get funded.

Guinn placed the facility on his suggested capital construction budget, but only for $5 million. Rogers said the other $5 million will come out of the estate tax money.

Guinn's $321.9 million capital improvement priority list includes 10 items for the university system totaling $83.3 million. About 28.5 million of that will come from outside sources, including the estate tax money and private donations.

More than $41.7 million is for fixtures, furnishings and equipment needs for four buildings either under construction or that will be constructed before the next biennium, including the CCSN Health Science building, UNLV Science and Engineering building, the UNR Knowledge Center (library) and the Nevada State College liberal arts building.

Also on the list is the $37.2 million UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, $13 million of which is being funded privately, a $13 million Great Basin College Electrical and Industrial Technology Building, $2 million for fire code renovations at Truckee Meadows Community College and $15 million for system wide renovations at all of the institutions.

Guinn's list also includes a $5.45 million UNR Biotechnology and Genomics Research Facility that was not on the regents' priority list. The building did not receive any state allocation.

Projects that were not prioritized by Guinn include the Desert Research Institute CAVE facility, the CCSN automotive technology center and the Pahrump classroom facility, and a student services addition at UNLV. There may be some estate tax money to see to some of those needs, Rogers said.