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Budget seen as best in 2 decades

Tentative proposal funds capital projects, provides campus operating costs

Published: April 6, 2006

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The budget recently approved by the state Legislature in Albany may be the best budget for UB in two decades, President John B. Simpson told the UB Council on Monday.

"I haven't been around here very long, but I understand this is about as good as it's been for the last 20 years," Simpson said. "It's largely good in terms of capital allocations to the university, but also there's some permanent or operating money that's going to be very helpful to us."

He indicated it is still too early to declare victory, however, as the Legislature's budget is still subject to three-way discussions and vetoes by the governor. Gov. George Pataki has until April 12 to exercise his veto powers.

Simpson said he believes the budget approved by the Legislature may be due, in part, "to a change in how we talked to the folks in Albany" about supporting projects at UB. Instead of expecting the state to pay the entire cost of projects, UB "changed the conversation to say, 'We need support from you to which we are going to contribute through our own efforts—through philanthropy, through grant and contract activity, through our own budgetary activity—to try to make these projects work.'"

Simpson noted that UB received funding in the past two state budgets for the renovation of Acheson Hall on the South Campus for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In that case, $46 million is coming from the state and UB will provide $6 million.

He called this new funding approach "appropriate" and "the kind of thing that goes on all across the country. While it may be new for New York and SUNY, I think it's a harbinger of how we should do business in the future, and I predict more successful outcomes than waiting for the state to pay for everything."

Simpson cited several projects that would benefit from allocations in this year's state budget:

  • UB would receive $24.6 million for a new state-of-the-art engineering building. The allocation, added to last year's allocation of $25 million, would bring the amount garnered from the state to nearly $50 million. The total cost of the building, expected to house the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering, is estimated to be $61 million. UB will raise the final $11 million, Simpson said.

  • The university would receive $13 million—in addition to $12 million received in last year's budget—to build a new facility in downtown Buffalo for the Educational Opportunity Center. Simpson said the $25 million should be enough to cover the entire cost of the building.

  • UB would receive $1.4 million in permanent operating funds for the new building that will house the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Simpson called the allocation "unexpected and entirely appreciated."

  • UB would receive $6 million in capital funds and $1 million in operating funds for the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute, which will be located on the fourth floor of the Center of Excellence. The institute will focus on research into Krabbe Disease—the nervous-system disorder that took the life of the son of former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly and his wife, Jill—and related diseases.

  • The Legislature allocated $5.2 million for the Pioneers of Science initiative for equipment and related laboratory renovations to recruit scientists to the Center of Excellence. This would bring the total funding of the faculty start-up and equipment package to $20 million.

Simpson told council members that UB and SUNY also were treated well in the Legislature's budget in terms of general operations. He noted that while Gov. Pataki had proposed a tuition increase, the Legislature "took it off the table," and provided $117 million to offset the increase and cover mandatory and base-level costs, such as collective bargaining and energy increases.

The budget also would restore the Tuition Assistance Program, and includes $25 million for SUNY for enrollment growth and full-time faculty. Simpson said he did not know how much of that $25 million UB will receive.