The tale of the timeline: Dobbins, Jetton have different views of state support for the $50 million project

State lawmakers appropriated and reappropriated millions of dollars for Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus arts school over the past seven years, records show.

In all, the legislature appropriated and reappropriated state funding for the project seven times, according to legislative, university and Southeast Missourian records.

"That's seven times the General Assembly came forward and said this is a valid project," university president Dr. Ken Dobbins said Tuesday. "We felt we had many indications that the legislature supported it."

House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, has criticized the university for issuing bonds to proceed with construction of the arts school while still waiting for the final piece of state funding to help retire the debt.

Jetton contends the reappropriations don't reflect a legislative commitment to future state funding for the River Campus project. The speaker has argued it was fiscally irresponsible for the university to issue bonds without all the state funding in place.

"At the end of the day, we told them not to issue bonds and they did so anyway," said Jetton spokesman Todd Abrajano.

Dobbins said the legislature never issued such an edict and at least some key lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, then head of the state Senate, supported the bond plan.

Dobbins also contends that the university's actions saved the state and taxpayers millions of dollars in construction costs by locking in building contracts before inflation.

Jetton publicly blames the board of regents for approving the bond plan. He has demanded the resignations of three regents who were on the board when the decision was made four years ago to issue bonds.

The speaker said he won't support more construction dollars for the River Campus unless the regents agree to resign. Dobbins said the regents won't resign, because their actions saved the state millions of dollars.

Jetton and university officials have presented conflicting timelines regarding the actions of the university and the legislature over funding for construction of the River Campus arts school overlooking the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau.

The controversy has divided the GOP in the House and created anger among project supporters and opponents, with both sides claiming the facts support their view.

An independent analysis of the timelines by the Southeast Missourian indicates that Jetton's timeline is rife with inaccuracies, however.

Meanwhile, construction crews continue to develop the former Catholic seminary into a visual and performing arts school with a price tag of nearly $50 million. Construction should be finished by summer 2007 with the new campus opening for classes that fall.

Jetton's timeline indicated lawmakers made no appropriations to the project in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

But that timeline fails to take into account the reappropriations or the additional $1,000 appropriation in 2003.

"It's totally wrong. It's a misstatement of facts," Dobbins said about Jetton's timeline.

The state legislature appropriated $4.6 million for the project in May 1999 and $11.95 million the next year. But the university never had access to the second appropriation because of a state revenue shortfall, school officials said.

Litigation, sparked by Cape Girardeau businessman Jim Drury's objections to using city tax money to help fund the project, delayed efforts by the university to start construction.

The legislature reappropriated the $4.6 million in 2001 and 2003, and reappropriated the remaining balance of that funding last year.

Lawmakers in 2001 also reappropriated the $11.95 million in state funding for the project.

In May 2003, the legislature also approved a $1,000 appropriation earmarked for planning, design and construction of the River Campus.

But Abrajano, Jetton's spokesman, said the repeated reappropriation of the $4.6 million doesn't indicate a promise of future funding but rather only legislative action allowing the university to spend the state money it was previously promised and allocated.

Jetton couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

The legislature appropriated $1,000 to the project in 2003 but didn't commit to any more funding of the project, Abrajano said.

In making that small appropriation, lawmakers weren't agreeing to the university's plan to issue bonds to move ahead with the construction project, Abrajano said.

But Dobbins said the $1,000 was a key factor in securing approval from bond counsel to proceed with issuing bonds because it showed the state's continued commitment to the project.

In fact, in a letter e-mailed to supporters earlier this week, Jetton wrote, "I supported and voted for appropriating $1,000 to the River Campus to keep it in the budget, so that when the budget improved we might be able to get them the money."

In the same letter, however, Jetton criticized Southeast officials for not obtaining state approval before issuing bonds. But Dobbins said the university's board of regents, not the legislature, decides on whether to issue bonds for construction work on the campus.

Dobbins also said the university told the Missouri Development Finance Board, which arranged for the sale of the bonds, that the institution would pay off the debt with student fees, if necessary.

Dobbins said the regents knew of that possibility when they agreed to issue bonds.

The school will have to raise fees by nearly $6 a credit hour if the state doesn't provide a requested $17.2 million on top of the $4.6 million it already has committed to the project, Dobbins said.

The city of Cape Girardeau is providing $8.9 million toward the project. The university has raised another $11.1 million in donations, Dobbins said. Federal funding has provided another $7 million.

The only question now is whether the state and local lawmakers -- after publicly supporting the project for several years -- will provide the requested funds or students will have to pay the bill, school officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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