Funding for UW-Madison engineering building tied up after Building Commission vote

Listen to this article

Legislators on a state commission have rejected using funds for a list of University of Wisconsin System projects, including the anticipated engineering building in Madison.

Republican lawmakers on the state’s Building Commission on Thursday led a 4-4 vote to reject reallocating $70 million for the Science and Health Science Building at UW-Eau Claire and using the money to fund other university projects, including $29 million for the future UW-Madison engineering building. After reallocation, the project will have a revised total cost of $419.8 million, a commission agenda showed.

The UW System requested unspent money from the UW-Eau Claire project be moved to five projects across the system, including the new engineering building. Planners added another floor to the new building to take on more students.

But Legislative Republicans cited concerns over transparency from the UW System, though they consider replacing the engineering building a priority.

“The UW-System has requested nearly a billion dollars in new taxpayer resources despite shrinking enrollments and the closure of campuses,” Devin LeMahieu, the state senate majority leader, wrote in a letter to UW President Jay Rothman. “Taxpayers will rightfully demand transparency and candor from you and your representatives moving forward,” he added.

“Bids for the UW-Eau Claire project came back more than 20% below what was expected all the way back in March of this year, and we didn’t hear a peep about it from (the Department of Administration) until last week,” said State Sen. Andre Jacque, a state Building Commission member, at a meeting. “… I’m stunned that we’re being asked to spend all of this cash right away on a Christmas tree of items without that discussion with the Legislature that appropriated the funds in the first place,” he added.

The university system asked for the authority to lower the project budget for the UW-Eau Claire Science and Health Sciences Building and a campus chiller and cooling tower replacement by $70 million. The project’s revised total will be around $274 million.

In March 2024, the university system received bids and construction is underway for the science building and chiller plant project, officials said. “Fortunately, bids came in lower than the enumerated estimate and the authorized funding due to a drop in uncertain inflationary pricing,” university officials added. The original project budget expected higher inflation because of uncertainty in the supply chain and labor market at the time, officials noted.

The commission is expected to vote on reallocation again in January, Gov. Tony Evers’ office said in a statement.

In a statement, Evers said he was “deeply disappointed” in Republican lawmakers who voted down the reallocation.

“We have to make sure our UW System remains the gem of our state and has the means and resources they need to compete — our students, workforce and employers, and the future of our communities and state depend upon it,” Evers said in a statement. “We will, again, bring these projects to the State Building Commission in the New Year, and I urge Republican lawmakers to approve them,” he added.

In addition to money for the engineering building, the university asked for $10.5 million for renovations at Winther and Heide halls at UW-Whitewater, $5.4 million for additions to Heritage Hall at UW-Stout and roughly $25 million for other small projects systemwide for maintenance and repair of facilities.

In March, Evers announced more than $400 million in funding, including for the new engineering building and additions to Winther and Heide halls at UW-Whitewater. In December 2023, the UW Board of Regents agreed to a deal with the Legislature that freed up the funding after months of debate.

Here were some of the projects approved by the commission:

• The release of Building Trust Funds to prepare the preliminary design for a Fire Response Equipment Facility and Fire Equipment Fabrication Storage Facility at the Lemay Forestry Center for the Department of Natural Resources;
• Exterior rehabilitation of the Charles Robinson House at the Wade House State Historic Site in Greenbush;
• The first two construction phases of chiller modifications at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King in Waupaca County;
• Three UW System instructional space upgrades across multiple campuses, including UW-Green Bay, UW-Madison and UW-Oshkosh;
• Exterior envelope maintenance and repair to the UW-Platteville Williams Fieldhouse; and
• Twenty-two facility maintenance and repair projects for various state agencies.