RALEIGH -- The state Senate is expected to consider today a $450 million bond package that would pay for university and college projects, including a new engineering building at N.C. State University.
A key Senate committee approved the bond package Tuesday. Borrowing the money would not require the approval of voters. The state is facing an $800 million revenue shortfall in its operating budget because of the recession. That same recession means that construction costs could be as much as 30 percent cheaper than they would be during normal times.
The projects would make North Carolina more attractive to the kinds of high-tech businesses the state wants to recruit, said Sen. Tony Foriest, a Graham Democrat.
"This is a pretty bold step for the General Assembly to take," Foriest said. "These mirror the industries that North Carolina would like to engage in the future."
The bond package would borrow $130 million for repairs and renovations, $55 million for equipment purchases, $104 million for an engineering building at N.C. A&T University and $161 million for the engineering building at N.C. State.
The N.C. State building would be on Centennial Campus and would be the fourth engineering building. It would house the university's departments of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the College of Engineering Administration and a data center. The building would replace Page Hall.
"We can't afford not to invest in our future," said Sen. Richard Stevens, a Cary Republican.
The 1,120-acre Centennial Campus has more than 2 million square feet of corporate and government offices, research labs and academic buildings. It is broadly considered a success, though it has something of the impersonal feel of a business park. The engineering buildings are among several that are planned, built or under construction around an open plaza meant to bring more of a campus feel to Centennial.
N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson told senators that the new engineering building would help propel the university's engineering program into the top tier nationally. Woodson, who has only been at his job a couple of months, has vowed to lift the university into the ranks of the nation's elites even as the system faces more cuts.
Paying off the debt would require $18 million next year. That figure would grow to $39 million, and paying off all the projects would take 21 years. The state would eventually pay $330 million in interest.
Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican and the chamber's minority leader, said the state may be facing a $3 billion deficit next year because of taxes and federal stimulus dollars that are set to expire. While the projects are worthwhile, another $18 million debt payment now doesn't make any sense, he said.
"Would you do that in your personal life?" he asked.
