Shelbie Harris
Staff Writer
Idaho State University has plans to reinvest nearly $6.3 million back into the university, the larger portion going to deferred maintenance, academic programs and various infrastructure improvements needed across campus.
“We’ve had great financial results, in fact the best financial results we’ve had in years,” said James Fletcher, ISU vice president for finance and administration.
“A majority of what we’ve been able to do is because of the discipline exerted by faculty, staff, students and everyone involved in this very difficult economic period.”
In addition to the $6.26 million in investments to technology upgrades, equipment purchases, software updates and utility maintenance, nearly $8 million has been appropriated back into the equipment reserve fund, bringing the reserve to $35.6 million. Seven years ago, that reserve consisted of only $205,000 of the expected $37 million.
As a result, ISU is now able to reinvest in areas across the university that are in need of critical improvements.
“We had a great year last year,” Fletcher said. “This is the best we’ve done since 2011.”
Fletcher said the reinvestment initiative is historic and something like this has never been done at ISU before.
Currently the total cost for deferred maintenance campus-wide is estimated to be about $352 million over the next five years.
As part of the reinvestment initiative, $1.5 million will go toward deferred maintenance issues including HVAC repairs and replacements in Leonard Hall, Trade & Technology, Fine Arts and the Idaho Museum of Natural History.
$100,000 will go into the repair and restoration of 20 classrooms campus-wide including new paint and maintenance, and classrooms 2 through 4 of the Lecture Center will be combined into a single, larger classroom adding ADA accessibility.
The fire alarm and elevator will be replaced in the Liberal Arts Building for $188,000.
Additionally, a new roof and other improvements are needed for the Research and Innovation in Science and Engineering (RISE) Complex located on Alvin Ricken Drive. The total cost of all improvements to the RISE Complex will cost $815,000.
Expenditures for Academic Affairs will total $2.1 million.
Fletcher said over the last few years operating budgets and travel expenses saw serious cuts in financial support as many belts across campus were tightened. The infusion of this one-time money will help for this year and encourage those items to see an increased budget as the new budget is constructed over the next few months.
Over $460,000 of the $2.1 million will go towards the replacement of 125 computers and other equipment located in various departments across the campus including Biology, Chemistry, Engineering and Geoscience departments.
Travel expenditures will see more than $337,000 and nearly $403,000 will be distributed for new materials and supplies.
Finance and Administration will see $300,000 that will include computer and printer upgrades, new software modules, and upgrade to video streaming hardware.
Fletcher said that although tuition and government assistance were beneficial to the universities positive financial situation, those items were not the major contributors.
“The biggest contributor to our success this year was expense. If you look at the overall improvement, 45 percent of it was to due to expense,” Fletcher said.
“All budgets were underrun in this university for the first time in history except for internal audit and that was only $418.62.”
ISU President Arthur Vailas said that program, facilities and service prioritization that occurs each year played a major role in determining what was most needed for the campus of ISU.
As part of the rigorous prioritization process the university had planned to ask the State Board of Education (SBOE) for permission to spend an additional $600,000 to purchase a new president’s residence facility.
The current residence known as the Servel House was built in 1917 and reportedly lacks the functionality needed for advancement and business opportunities according to ISU.
“The purpose of the president’s residence facility is to execute a particular function,” Vailas said. “Most of the functions are for advancement, such as scholarships for students, bringing in different donors, or in the event a big contract is being signed for the university.”
Advancement is a large portion of the president’s duties, and is also a very large contributor to resources garnered for the university.
Fletcher said the annual cost for maintenance and upkeep of the Servel House has averaged $31,000 over the last five years with last years costs exceeding $33,000.
Talks about the issues associated with the Servel House began back in 2008 and arose as a result of various problems; some being the inadequacies in parking availability, as well as the fact anytime a large function was held there all the furniture had to be moved out, stored and then moved back into the residence.
The estimated cost to operate a home built in the last ten years averages around $10,000 annually.
This means the overall net loss after buying a new home, selling the old home and saving on upkeep costs every year will be next to nothing in less than a decade.
Vailas said he didn’t want to justify the purchase of the home located at Wild Horse Ridge but he wants to justify the fact that ISU needs a facility for advancement purposes.
Although the proposal was reportedly solid, the amount of concern expressed by the community of ISU and Pocatello has forced the university to back off its plans and postpone the venture until it can be heard by a committee.
Reportedly, the only reason the public was not informed of the potential investment was because the decision was ultimately up to the State Board of Education and ISU didn’t want to get ahead of that decision.
Marketing and Communications Director Adrienne King said everyone at ISU is trying to make the best decisions that they can that are in the best interests of the university and the proposal was the most cost-effective option available.
The committee process for proposal evaluation will be comprised of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community leaders and is tentatively scheduled to be assembled sometime in December.
Fletcher will be attending the ASISU Senate meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Salmon River Suite on the third floor of the Pond Student Union Building, to discuss the reinvestment initiative further and answer any questions the ISU community may have.
