Defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Barnett said Friday the state can afford a $50 million to $100 million “down payment” on universities to take care of a backlog of repairs.

“It’s going to take more, but we need to get started rather than ignore the problem,” Barnett said.

Barnett, a state senator from Emporia, said he would work on the issue when the Legislature’s 2007 session starts in January.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, won re-election by defeating Barnett by 17 percentage points in the Nov. 7 election.

The six public universities have reported a need for $727 million to take care of what they call deferred maintenance. That includes $209 million at Kansas University and $76 million at the Kansas University Medical Center.

Barnett said he would oppose issuing bonds to provide more maintenance funding because that would increase the state’s growing debt. He said universities need to set aside 4 percent to 5 percent of their budgets for upkeep.

For the short term, however, he proposed spending up to $100 million in the next fiscal year.

He said that could be accomplished while also preserving the recent $466 million, three-year school finance plan because of growing state revenues.

During his campaign against Sebelius, Barnett repeatedly criticized the school finance plan, saying it would break the state budget, force a tax increase or require expanded casino gambling.

But on Friday, he said the state’s improving economy and revenue figures show that the school finance plan can be funded.

“I’ve talked with legislative research to be sure that the numbers can work,” he said. “Everyone is pleasantly surprised that our revenue stream has increased.”

Just before the election, state budget experts projected a $300 million increase in revenue from the prior year.

Sebelius’ office said the governor was working on her proposed budget for the upcoming legislative session.

“I’m certain deferred maintenance is one of the many important areas of discussion,” said Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran.

As far as Barnett now saying that the school finance plan can be funded, Corcoran said that was what Sebelius had maintained throughout the campaign.