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WSU feels budget knife
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(U-WIRE) MOSCOW, ID – Washington State University has suspended plans for $83 million of construction as part of the budget cuts proposed by Washington Gov. Gary Locke. The cut put a spending freeze on state-funded building projects at many Washington universities. Idaho universities will not suffer the same fate and have to put major building projects on hold, said Mark Snider, press secretary for Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.
“The governor has ordered a 2 percent holdback,” Snider said. “But we have not ordered any holdbacks on university projects.” Snider said each of the major projects that were approved by the governor and passed by the legislature at universities in Idaho will not be hurt by the 2 percent cut instituted by Gov. Kempthorne in September. “Those funds can be found elsewhere. We don’t need to stop projects that are already planned,” Kempthorne said. University of Idaho President Bob Hoover said he is glad the governor has not looked at cutting university projects.
“The university classroom remodel is very important to the University of Idaho,” Hoover said. Even with the 2 percent cutbacks the university still has a 7 percent increase in the budget to work with, he said. “While the holdback is 2 percent, our increase in budget was about 9 percent and while any holdback is difficult, we are prepared to live with that. We will find ways to manage that,” Hoover said. He also said that the governor’s actions demonstrate his commitment to higher education. “The 9 percent increase in higher education funding and the funding of over $60 million in higher education suggests the tremendous commitment of the governor to higher education as well as the commitment of the legislature.”
Leah Andrews, Idaho Argonaut (U. Idaho)