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63 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, March 18, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 13, 2005 SOU-RCC complex scrambles for funds By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune As legislators wrangle over a tight state budget, Southern Oregon University is exploring other funding options to make sure its plan for a new building shared with Rogue Community College in downtown Medford survives. The university is seeking federal money to pay for technological equipment at the shared building and wants the Medford Urban Renewal Agency to pay for site-preparation work, such as sidewalks and parking lots. Those efforts to secure outside money and trim the total cost to the state could prove vital, said Sen. Alan Bates, D- Ashland. "We are still in a ‘cuts’ budget," he said. "This is not an easy sell, but I think we are going to make this happen." The proposed downtown education center would cost an estimated $23.3 million. It would provide each school with more space than it could afford on its own and enable students to move easily from one institution to the other, advocates said. Advertisement The plan has support from the governor, who has called for increased collaboration between community colleges and universities, and the local chamber of commerce, which touted the center as an economic and cultural development tool. The total cost would be split, with SOU paying $11.8 million and RCC paying $11.5 million. The initial proposal called for the university to use state-funded bonds to pay for half its share and use scarce state general fund money to pay for most of the rest. The community college also was slated to get state-funded bonds for half its share, then use money from a local bond issue approved by voters last fall for the rest, Bates explained. "We have 85 percent of the funding in place," he said. "I would hate to lose it because of the last little bit." University officials want to ensure that doesn’t happen. "As an agency under the governor we have to be in pursuit of his proposal," SOU Provost Earl Potter said. "We’re also prudently exploring other alternatives." The university has sent a request to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and the rest of Southern Oregon’s congressional delegation for $3 million in federal money available to equip new education buildings, Potter said. If the request makes it into the federal budget this fall, the money would pay for computers, video-conferencing and distance-learning equipment and laboratory items, officials said. Officials from both schools are working closely with the urban renewal agency, which can pay for required site work such as curbs, gutters, sidewalks, street improvements and parking, MURA Director Kurt Olsen said. Exactly what preparatory work would be needed depends on which of several downtown sites the schools select for their project. All the sites are along Central Avenue, Bartlett Street or Riverside Avenue near the community college buildings and the county library, a region MURA would like to see developed as a cultural and educational district. Olsen said his agency’s contribution to the total project could range from several hundred thousand dollars for basic sidewalk work to $1 million or more on an extensive parking project. Potter said the schools want to select a building site in the next month so they will have more details on the project’s cost and the contributions that partners could make. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Advertisement s