A quarter of the value of the University’s buildings, land and infrastructure is reaching the end of its life cycle, said Tony Lombardo, executive director of the Office of Facility Services.
Lombardo said the University is valued at about $2.2 billion, and 25 percent of the University’s facilities need repairs and maintenance to keep buildings open and working.
However, there is no state funding coming in for this deferred maintenance.
Lobardo said peer institutions in the Southeastern Conference as well as other flagship schools have about 20 percent of their value in deferred maintenance, putting the University behind in repairs.
In 2008, the state supplied the University with about $4 million to fix leaky roofs, air conditioners and other structures on campus wearing out from use, Lombardo said. Since then, there has been no additional monetary help from the state.
Deferred maintenance is the necessary upkeep of buildings. It differs from capital outlay projects because capital outlay involves adding new structures and major renovation to campus and comes from separate funds.
The University still uses the air conditioning structures added in the 1960s for a majority of the buildings on campus. The air conditioning units are no longer produced, so when parts break, they have to have to be specially manufactured. When an entire unit is lost, it can cost more than $200,000 to fix.
A portion of student fees also are used to fix maintenance problems as they break at the University, Lombardo said. The repairs needed are prioritized with the idea of keeping the outside of structures strong to protect and prevent more extensive repairs inside them.
Each semester, the Office of Facility Services compiles a list of what needs to be worked on over the next several years.
“A lot of what goes into the decision making process in an estimated failure rate, if we think something’s going to fail in the next year then we will have to prioritize it higher,” Lombardo said. “That’s always the difficulty when the index is that high theres so many systems you need to do and you’re not going to get to them all.”
The list of repairs grows even as projects are ticked off of the list, so decisions have to be made for what projects will be tackled next.
“Many of those projects too do not have an obvious benefit to students, but there is a benefit. Air condition, for example – you don’t see it like you do stucco repairs or new floors,” said Roger Husser, director of planning, design and construction. “Same thing with the roof, and if you can keep the moisture out of the building. It affects students directly in their classrooms.”
Building renovations, such as complete facelift of Patrick F. Taylor Hall, can negate some deferred maintenance, Husser said.
When scheduling classes, the University registrar must plan around some of the problems with older buildings because they are no longer up to code or not accessible to students, Husser said.
“We are going to add an elevator to Allen Hall, and it’s a deferred maintenance need,” Husser said. “It’s not a safety issue, but it could fail and so because of that, the registrar doesn’t schedule classes on
upper floors.”
The elevator already in Allen Hall is too small, unreliable and doesn’t line up with the floor, making it inaccessible for the handicapped.
Sharon Andrews, an English instructor who works in Allen Hall, said she doesn’t take the elevator anymore even though her office is on the second floor.
“I fear for my life on that thing,” Andrews said.
Some repairs on campus still are funded by the allotment in 2008, but it is dwindling, Lombardo said.
“We hope that the legislature will allocate deferred maintenance funding in the future,” Husser said.