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FLC snubbed again at Capitol

Other schools to receive funds
Fort Lewis College junior Christian Gering, left, and junior Sylvester Wilson leave Berndt Hall on Tuesday afternoon. The newer section of the building, shown here, opened in 2010. The science building is awaiting funding for the final phase of the three-part reconstruction project that has been in the works since current students were in preschool, but finding funding in Denver is proving elusive.

DENVER – Fort Lewis College officials were shocked to learn Wednesday that the Legislature does not plan to fund reconstruction of the college’s science building after all.

The Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee also snubbed colleges across the state in its roughly $200 million list of construction projects. Other legislators lashed out at the JBC on Thursday morning and accused budget writers of promoting their local pet projects at the expense of the rest of the state.

Instead of colleges, the budget committee plans to spend about half its capital budget on computer systems, including $41 million for Gov. John Hickenlooper’s upgrade to the Motor Vehicles computer system.

After an outcry from other legislators Thursday morning, the JBC quickly backtracked and added buildings at Western State Colorado University, the Colorado School of Mines and Red Rocks Community College to their list. Except for Mines, those projects jumped ahead of Fort Lewis, which had been second on the state’s priority list for college construction.

All year, FLC leaders were confident they would get $20 million to finally finish rebuilding Berndt Hall. The Legislature’s Capital Development Committee pegged it as the second-highest priority college project. The committee travels the state every year to inspect buildings and recommend the top-priority projects.

“Shame on us for assuming, but our assumption was the Capital Development Committee’s list would have been selected, given the analytic review they do,” said Steve Schwartz, FLC vice president of finance and administration.

In a phone interview, Schwartz called the Berndt Hall project crucial for Fort Lewis.

“The building is a bottleneck for our engineering program. We could be educating more kids in our engineering program if we had this building,” he said.

Legislators on the Capital Development Committee vented their anger Thursday morning at the six-member JBC. Sen. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge, pointed out that the only two college projects that the JBC funded were in downtown Denver and Colorado Springs.

“I just find it curious that it is for the Auraria campus and the UCCS performing arts project,” Jahn said.

The Auraria campus library is in the district of JBC chairwoman Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver. The University of Colorado-Colorado Springs is in the hometown of another JBC member, Republican Sen. Kent Lambert.

Duran rebuked CDC members for questioning her motivations. However, she removed $5 million of the Auraria library project and sent it to Western State, saying she wanted to show there is no “war on rural Colorado.”

“I want to make sure this budget is reflective of all of Colorado’s priorities,” Duran said.

JBC members said they have to take into account all the state’s needs, not just colleges. But with other legislators openly expressing hostility to the JBC, there may be a way for FLC to get its funding.

“We have 100 legislators in this building, and 100 legislators get to vote on the budget,” Jahn said. “I think we need to leave the arrogance at the door and have an honest discussion.”

If FLC advocates aren’t successful this year, they might have even harder luck next year.

Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, told Capital Development Committee members that next year’s construction budget looks even leaner than this year’s, and around $50 million of it will be needed to finish the motor vehicles computer project.

The JBC met behind closed doors with members of the capital committee Thursday afternoon. A Herald reporter attended after invoking the state’s open-meetings act.

FLC has a long history of disappointment with the Legislature over Berndt Hall. The science building is in the last phase of the three-part reconstruction project that has been in the works since current students were in preschool. The Legislature promised funding but snatched it away in the early 2000s, and then the project sat on the shelf during the first recession last decade.

jhanel@durangoherald.com



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