Two Finance Proposals Could Benefit George Mason
By Daniel Walsch
Two proposals are now before the General Assembly for discussion and possible
approval that could be significant to George Mason University in the area of future
construction projects.
The first proposal was presented at a mid-December press conference held in
the Johnson Center by then-governor James Gilmore. In one of his final, significant
acts as governor, Gilmore proposed a $927 million higher education bond initiative.
If approved, the bonds will finance a range of construction projects at many of
Virginia’s public colleges and universities, including George Mason.
According to Gov. Gilmore’s office, the initiative will support construction
of George Mason’s Academic II on the Arlington Campus to the tune of $36
million and Academic IIIA on the Prince William Campus at a cost of $21.4 million.
In addition, it would provide $4 million in supplemental funding for construction
of Housing Building V on the Fairfax Campus, $3.1 million to support the renovation
of the Commonwealth and the Dominion housing facilities, and $3 million in new
funds to support construction of Academic IV on the Fairfax Campus, which started
in 2001.
The second proposal, made several weeks later in a joint press conference by
John Chichester, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Vincent Callahan,
chair of the House Appropriations Committee, is a seven-year, $1.6 billion plan
designed to provide colleges and universities with monies that will enable them
to renovate aging facilities as well as build new buildings. If approved, monies
would be available to fund two new facilities on the Mason’s Fairfax Campus:
a research building and Fairfax IV.
For the bond proposal by Gilmore to be allocated, it requires the blessings
of the General Assembly and then that of Virginia voters in the November 2002
state elections. For the Chichester–Callahan proposal, however, only the
blessings of the General Assembly and now Gov. Mark Warner are necessary.
Warner’s blessings may not be easy to come by, however. In his first address
to a joint session of the General Assembly on Jan. 14, he recognized the capital
needs of the state’s colleges and universities, but said that he won’t
support any specific bond proposal just yet. Warner stated that the bond’s
annual debt service must be weighed in the context of the state’s overall
financial plans.
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