Sebelius urges action on university repairs

? As a power outage Friday plagued Kansas State University, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said she was chagrined by the lack of progress the Legislature has made in addressing the problem of needed major repairs at public universities.

“I’m disappointed that we don’t seem to have any movement,” Sebelius said during a news conference.

Meanwhile, three buildings at KSU were shut down because of an electrical problem in what has been called the “Frankenstein Room” in the Power Plant.

“This is one of the areas we have tried to repair as best we can, but without adequate funds,” KSU President Jon Wefald said.

In the Frankenstein Room, so-called because it looks like something out of a horror movie, employees use wooden poles to manipulate electrical switches because they are afraid to touch them.

On Friday, power was cut temporarily to much of the campus because of an electrical problem in a switch gear.

The Kansas Board of Regents says the six public universities, including Kansas University, have a backlog of repair and maintenance projects worth about $660 million.

They have asked for a down payment in the $200 million range and have made a list of priority projects.

The top project for KU is $8.8 million to repair and replace the school’s utility tunnel system that is used to route electrical, heating, cable, communications and other utilities to about 50 buildings on the main campus.

Sebelius and legislative leaders have said the state needs to boost funding for the repairs before the backlog gets any worse.

But so far no plan has won agreement.

The House has approved a proposal to increase funding for maintenance by $15 million per year.

Sebelius, a Democrat, proposed increasing turnpike tolls 5 percent annually for the next seven years as part of a $575 million package. But Republicans, turnpike officials and the trucking industry have panned the idea.

“I’m happy to have a discussion about alternative strategies,” Sebelius said.

A Senate task force is expected to start voting on proposed funding methods, but there is no agreement on the panel.

“We’re out of time,” said Sen. Jean Kurtis Schodorf, R-Wichita, and chairwoman of the task force. “We have to vote Monday, no delay,” she said.

The task force has discussed a long list of options to raise funds to pay for the repairs, including an expansion of gambling, increasing college student fees and dipping into Kansas Lottery revenue.

Asked about the proposal to increase student fees, Sebelius said that was “a bad idea.”

Recent tuition increases have hurt some students, and any further expenses would make the situation worse, she said.

Task force member Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, has circulated a proposal to set a specific appropriation so that future legislatures won’t have to face this problem.

Francisco said lawmakers should allocate $75 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1 and then $100 million each year after that.

Sebelius said the Legislature needs to put together a plan this year because the maintenance problems will worsen.

“We have waited long enough to deal with what is a compounding problem, and not doing anything is not a good option,” she said.