Pending the approval of the Board of Supervisors, the E.J. Ourso Business College will have funding for its planned $60 million Business Education Complex with a little help from the state of Louisiana, the Southeastern Conference TV rights contract and the LSU Foundation.The complex will receive $30 million via the Capital Outlay funding state match, $21.9 million from the LSU Foundation and $8.1 million in internal bridge loans from revenue generated by the SEC TV rights contract, according to documents submitted for Thursday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.Eli Jones, Dean of the Business College, was unavailable for comment.Herb Vincent, University spokesman, said the SEC TV rights contract is a contract between the SEC and CBS and ESPN to broadcast SEC sporting events. The money generated from the contract is divided among the members of the SEC.The SEC TV rights contract generates between $5 and $6 million per year for the University, according to the proposal. The University initially received $1 million when the contract was signed. The loan will be paid back within 18 years with an interest rate of 4.38 percent, according to the proposal.The Business College hoped to use New Markets Tax Credit to fund the $12.2 million of the $30 million needed by the June 30 deadline to receive the state match, Jones told The Daily Reveille in April.Capital outlay projects typically must be approved at each level of the University and by the LSU System, the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Regents. They are then re-prioritized at each level. The projects are then voted on by the Louisiana House of Representatives and the Louisiana State Senate before being approved by the governor.Jones said at the time that the Business College is eligible for the New Markets Tax Credit because it is located in a low-income area.Blake Chatelain, Board of Supervisors chair elect, said the plans in the proposal seem more viable than the previously discussed option of utilizing New Markets Tax Credit to finance the complex.”Certainly everybody wants to get this project done, and I think that [Chancellor Michael Martin], Eli Jones and [System President John Lombardi] feel like this is a good plan,” Chatelain said. “The plan that is on the agenda appears to be a quicker way to get this project underway.”Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, vice chancellor for business and financial affairs at the LSU Law Center, said the federal government has allocated about $23 billion for the New Markets Tax Credit, including a specific designation of $1 billion for specific types of economic developments in the Gulf Opportunity Zone.”There is a limited amount of [funding] that is available and that’s based on the [$1 billion] that was allocated to this location initially,” Pietruszkiewicz said.- – – -Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]
Business School submits proposal to fund complex
August 25, 2009