New residence opens, new sign announced while U of R campus crumbles

Tanya Dahms has come to the conclusion that administrators at the University of Regina have their spending priorities confused. 

The biochemistry professor wonders why the university is dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars on new signs and millions on a new residence, funded by loans, while parts of the campus are crumbling or leaking. 

"I feel like we're borrowing from the future with no solid plan," Dahms said. 

University reports say that the campus has a "major backlog" of deferred maintenance: $307 million worth of essential but delayed repair and replacement work.

Yet just last week the university unveiled its brand new $83 million residence building. The university took out a $58 million loan to pay for it.

• 'Only emergency repairs are possible,' says University of Regina report

Biology professor Chris Yost says that's not how the average person would run their own household, and he wonders why it's acceptable for the university. 

"You have a broken toilet. Do you fix your broken toilet or do you add on a new addition to your living room? Which one should come first?" Yost asked rhetorically. 

He's also annoyed that the university is building new and expensive signs on campus. 

Just over a year ago the U of R unveiled a new million dollar sign project on the south entrance. Recently it announced plans to give the north entrance a $400K facelift, including a new $200K sign. 

"Where's our priorities? Are they on the academic mission or are they on vanity projects?" Yost wondered. 

Despite the infrastructure problems on campus, the U of R defends its decision to build the residence. 

"It absolutely is a good investment. Our investment is in students. We need students to operate the university and meet the goals and mission of the university and the province. And to do that we need residences," said Dave Button, VP of administration.

Less government funding than requested

The provincial government has given $11 million for the residence project, but the U of R has asked for more than $24 million.

Button said despite ongoing rejection he's still optimistic. 

"Every signal from government has been the most positive on this particular project of any that I've seen in my 35 years working in a government environment," Button said. 

Dahms wonders why the U of R would proceed with such a massive project without guaranteed government funding. 

She said while a new residence is a good idea, it seems the timing of the project is off, given the crumbling infrastructure.

"My concern is that something like maintenance, which is going to keep putting you further and further into the hole, is something that needs to be addressed in the more immediate sense," Dahms said. "I feel the residence could have waited."

Faculty association worries residence may strain budget

Dahm's concerns are echoed by the chair of the faculty association, Dennis Fitzpatrick, who worries the U of R is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The money to pay the $3.3 million annual loan payment comes from the ancillary budget, which includes all of the residences, parking and the bookstore. 

Right now, because of the residences, there is a $1.8 million deficit in that fund. 

"There's an interconnectivity of the whole budget. And if things go wrong in one area it's going to cause a draw on money in another area," Fitzpatrick said.

"There's only one pocket of money really."

However Button says the university has a long-term plan to pay for the residence in a way that won't affect the U of R's overall budget. 

He said after 15 to 20 years, the new residence will no longer be a draw on the budget, but will in fact make money. 

"The entire revenue stream is what's important and over multiple years and multiple residences then the residences and all ancillary operations are self-supporting," said Button. 

In the meantime, the university explained in an email, the ancillary fund deficit is not a problem because all university funds share a common bank account.

"As long as the university is in a surplus position with its overall cash flow the ancillary fund can just sit there showing a deficit until the projected revenues from ancillaries bring it back into surplus in future years." 

U of R says signs are an important investment

Button defends the university's decision to invest in signs. He says research has shown some people have a hard time tracking down the university.

"I've been here 20 years. I don't have a hard time finding (the university), but signs are not meant for me, for the staff or for people on the campus," Button said.

He said they're meant for visitors, and they help present a good and helpful image to the public. 

Province funds residence, but not signs

While the provincial government supports the residence project the signs are another story. 

Deputy Minister of Advanced Education, Louise Greenberg says the institution is free to spend its own money as it sees fit. However, she says there are limits for government funding. 

"If they came and asked, 'Can we use capital dollars to build this sign?'  we would have said 'no.' Building a sign using capital dollars wouldn't be a choice for us," Greenberg said. 

"Our targets are for students pace, are for classrooms, are for buildings and we wouldn't have allocated government dollars to a sign."

The U of R says it used its own money for the newly announced sign project.