Utah's colleges to lobby regents for project funds

On paper it looks like a brewing battle of the $50 million projects.

The University of Utah is requesting $50.3 million from the state for seismic upgrades and a new automated book retrieval system for its Marriott Library.

Utah State University wants $50 million in state funds for a College of Agriculture building to replace one wrought with problems. That's just for one building.

"Utah State has a number of old and bad buildings," said USU President Kermit Hall. "We're looking at buildings that are mission critical — this is at the center of our mission."

Hall also has plans to ask the state for $10 million to expand USU's Innovation Campus, home to business and industry that supports the school's research functions.

"Do you want to create an economic hub in northern Utah?" Hall asked. "This is the place to do it."

Officials from the U., USU and other schools will meet today with the State Board of Regents to decide which building projects among a list of nine should receive top priority.

"We have an enormous number of needs," said Dave Buhler, Utah System of Higher Education associate commissioner of public affairs.

Buhler said he expects some lobbying on the part of schools, which last year included the U. sending out mailers to drum up community interest in getting state money for the library.

"It's important that it comes out with a No. 1 rating," said Nancy Lyon, U. assistant vice president for government affairs.

The U. library has been ranked first or second on the regents' list for the past three years but each time hasn't received any state funding. It's all part of what Lyon described as an awareness-building process among legislators. "The regents understand full well how important it is," she said.

On Friday, regents will recommend a list of projects to the State Building Board, which incorporates the needs of higher education into a list of its own for various state priorities.

The prioritization of those needs is impacted by the amount of space at a school, life safety issues and how much in matching funds a school has raised for a particular project. It looks good to lawmakers, for example, that the U. already has $17 million of its own for the library.