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OU Board Of Trustees Approves Plan To Borrow $100 Million Over Four Years
By: Atish Baidya, Grant Burkhardt
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The Ohio University Board of Trustees approved a plan borrow an additional $100 million in debt over the next four years as part of the school’s six-year capital improvement plan.
Stephen Golding, vice-president for finance and administration said issuing tax-exempt debt in increments over the next four years would be less disruptive to the OU’s credit rating.
Trustees were considering issuing $100 million in taxable debt in one lump sum.
Under the approved plan, the debt would be added on incrementally between Jan. 2014 and Jan. 2018, peaking at a $41.3 million hike in 2018.
At the end of Jan. 2018, Ohio University is projected to be $585.9 million in debt, according to Golding's presentation.
The $100 million will pay for a six-year campus renovation plan, from 2014 to 2020.
The money will only renovate existing academic buildings, not create new structures. Alden Library's renovation will cost the most in both money and time. The library, which opened in 1969, is scheduled to be under construction from early 2015 until Jan. 2020. The renovation will cost $33.4 million.
Major upgrades are also scheduled for McCracken and Seigfried Halls in addition to renovations to Lasher, Ellis and Morton Halls. The plan also calls for the expansion of the chilled water plant and deferred maintenance costs.
The projects are slated to start in Jan. 2014, and will be evenly distributed throughout the six-year period, according to Golding.