Topeka ? Kansas community colleges want to be taken care of too when it comes to paying for a backlog of repairs and maintenance.

Eighteen of the 19 community colleges on Wednesday gave the Legislature a bill for $149.5 million.

That’s on top of the $727 million price tag for repairs at the six public universities, including Kansas University.

After regents universities put together a list of repairs, lawmakers had asked community colleges to assess their needs.

The new study now brings deferred maintenance costs to $876.5 million and growing.

Of the needed repairs at the community colleges, “Some should have been done yesterday, and some can be done tomorrow,” said Sheila Frahm, executive director of the Kansas Association of Community Colleges.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and legislators have declared the backlog of repairs a major priority during the current legislative session.

Sebelius said she will have a proposal to address the issue by the end of this month. Senators have formed a task force to make a recommendation, too.

Frahm said the one institution not included in the community colleges’ report was Johnson County Community College, which is conducting its own study.