River Campus will have to wait for bulk of state aid

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Although the state has earmarked $16.55 million for the River Campus, nearly three-quarters of that money won't be available anytime soon.

The Missouri General Assembly appropriated the funding for Southeast Missouri State University's planned fine arts center in two rounds. The initial $4.6 million was approved in 1999 and the remaining $11.95 million in 2000.

Both appropriations are good through fiscal year 2003, which ends June 30 of that year.

Brian Long, state budget director, said that despite Missouri's present financial woes, the $4.6 million will be available whenever the university asks for it as long as two conditions are met.

First, the university has to prove it has a dollar in local money to match every dollar it seeks from the state. Second, there must be an actual expenditure for the project. The state won't provide the money up front, but instead will reimburse the university.

Southeast, in a joint venture with the city of Cape Girardeau, intends to begin preliminary work in short order now that the Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a voter-approved tax to provide the city's $9 million contribution to the River Campus, which will cost an estimated $36 million.

University officials have said it will be at least a year before they will need the bulk of the state funding component.

Most state capital improvement spending has been on hold since July 1 last year while the state grapples with financial problems. At present, $140.7 million worth of capital projects, most to benefit public universities, exist only on paper with no revenue to fund them.

Gov. Bob Holden said the River Campus money won't be available in either FY 2002 or FY 2003, and couldn't predict when it would be.

"We'll look to see when we can do that," Holden said. "I'll try to be as helpful to the university as possible."

Right now the governor and lawmakers have more pressing spending problems to address, such as how to make at least $480 million in core spending cuts to deliver a constitutionally mandated balanced budget.

When state revenues improve -- and no one knows when that will happen -- there will be a long line of state agencies scrambling to restore funding cut this year. The River Campus and other capital projects may have to take a place near the back of that line.

The legislature next year will likely have to reappropriate money to keep the plan on the state's agenda.

State Rep. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, said he'll work in the House to ensure the money is available as soon as the state can afford it.

"We'll have to have a cooperative effort between the university and the administration in laying out the construction cycle and how we can draw down those resources," Crowell said.

mpowers@semissourian

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