Board of Governors APPENDIX IV - September 27, 2001

 

REPORT OF THE PROPERTY AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

FOR INFORMATION

1. Appointment of Design Team for the North Campus Building

At its meeting of September 10, 2001, the Property and Finance Committee approved the award of the Consultant Contract for the North Campus Building to the design team led by architects Tillman Ruth Mocellin. The commission includes the development of a concept and siting plan at a cost of $55,000 and design services for the project at 7.5% of the total construction cost.

The process used to select the recommended team of consultants was:

The selection of Tillman Ruth Mocellin by the Project Planning Committee was based on many criteria including: comparable experience, capability of the Design Team, fees, previous designs, functional programming expertise, ability to work with the Project Planning Committee, approach to cost and schedule control, and experience in university facility design.

The concept design and siting for this project will be completed as soon as possible. The project, including concept plan, will then be presented to Property & Finance for approval, following which the detailed design will be commenced. Completion of the construction is expected for December 2003.

Members of the design team include:

2.  Proposed Expansion of the Robarts Research Institute

Dr. Mercer and Mr. Riddell will provide an oral report about the proposed expansion of the Robarts Research Institute at the Board meeting.

3.  Review of Four Budgetary Indicators

Each spring the University’s annual Operating Budget contains references to four important indicators: the Carryforward Reserve, the Operating Reserve, Operating Revenue, and Student Aid, along with preliminary estimates of those figures for the fiscal year just ending. As part of the first quarter report to Property & Finance, Annex 1 shows the final values for these indicators for 2000-01, and historical data back to 1983-84.

(1) Carryforward Reserve

Each year resources are allocated to the individual Faculties and Support Units, with no requirement that they be spent in the year in question. Unspent funds are carried forward into the next budget and appear in the Carryforward Reserve, shown in column (1) of the Table. There is no Board target for the size of this reserve, which reflects a great many individual decisions in our decentralized budgetary environment. The Carryforward Reserve grew sharply from 1988 to 1992, at a time when real operating spending was also growing. The reductions in real operating spending since 1994 have been associated with a sharp fall in the Carryforward Reserve from 1996 to 2001, as units have spent the funds in the Reserve. At April 30, 2001 the Carryforward Reserve had a balance of $3,990,000.

(2) Operating Reserve

For the period 1984 to 1998, the Board recommended a target level of 1% of operating revenues for the operating reserve. As column (2) shows, from 1984 to 1996, this target was achieved once (in 1986), and from 1989 to 1996 the reserve was in deficit position. In 1997 the operating reserve achieved the target of 1%, and in 1998 the reserve exceeded the target by $1.8 million. Since 1999 the operating reserve target level has been set at $2.5 million. At April 30, 2001 the operating reserve was $.4 million approximately $2.1 million below the target level recommended by the Board.

(3) Student Aid

Increasing student aid is vital at a time of rising tuition. As column (4) indicates, Student Aid grew by approximately 460% from 1994 to 2001, in part because of government mandated transfers of tuition revenues to the student aid budget. During these same years Total Operating Revenue (column 3) grew by 22.8%.

(4) Real Operating Revenue Excluding Student Aid

This measure, shown in column (7), is one indicator of the budgetary stress the University is experiencing. The years shown can be divided into two periods: from 1984 to 1993, Real Net Revenue grew by 24%, while from 1993 to 2001 Real Net Revenue grew by 1.6%. During the period from 1993 to 2001 Real Net Revenue per FTE fell by 4.2% (column 10).

4. Quarterly Financial Report (Operating and Ancillary Budgets)

See Annex 2.

5.  Report on Investments

See Annex 3.    (Adobe Acrobat file)                             

6.  Report on Environmental Incidents and/or Safety Incidents

Mercury Spill at Engineering Sciences Room 3015

On Thursday, June 28, 2001, a pressurized mercury device failed in a research laboratory in the Engineering Sciences Building. The resulting spill required five individuals to give blood samples for mercury levels and involved the immediate closure of the laboratory. The laboratory remained closed for five days while the services of an outside hazardous materials clean up crew were obtained.

7. Report on Scholarships

See Annex 4.   (Adobe Acrobat file)