During my 10 years at USM, I’ve heard more complaints about the shortage of parking than any other issue. Last fall we took a large step toward a solution when voters approved $8 million in bond money to support the construction of an education center/parking garage.
However, bond money only will take us about halfway toward the total cost of this facility. In the past, we have funded all parking operations, parking lot maintenance and improvements, and associated personnel from the revenue from parking decals, meters, and parking fines. The shuttle buses that run between the Portland and Gorham campuses and the Marginal Way lot have come out of university funds.
While transportation costs have risen, both parking and transportation at USM have been underfunded for years, primarily because of our very low parking fees. In fact, a 1991 survey of USM and 48 other similar institutions showed that the mean campus parking fee at that time was $64.
Ten years later, our current fee is about half of the average fee shown in that study. Meanwhile, rates for monthly parking in Portland garages have risen to $80 or more. The parking garage will hold 1,200 cars, with a net gain of over 600 slots, taking into consideration the loss of space in the existing Bedford Street parking lot, which will be the garage site.
The total cost of the garage and education center is $19.4 million: $14.4 million for the parking garage, $2.6 million for the lecture hall and $2.4 million for the classroom building. We plan to pay for the facility in a variety of ways. We will raise $2.6 million from private sources to pay for the lecture hall; $2.4 million of the $8 million bonds will be used to pay for the classroom building, and $5.6 million of the bonds will be applied to the parking garage. For the remaining $8.8 million needed for the garage, we will generate internal revenue bonds and will repay those over 15 years via a parking and transportation fee.
The proposed mandatory student fee will replace the current $35 decal fee for students. The new fee during the 2002-03 academic year will be $4 per credit hour, which for a student carrying 12 credits per semester would be $96 per year, or a net increase of $61, subtracting the $35 decal fee from $96.
In the following year, the fee will go to $8 per credit hour ($192 per year for a student carrying 12 credits per semester). The impact of the fee on students will be cushioned by the elimination of the $2 per credit hour energy fee in the second year, rendering a net increase of $109 during 2003-04.
Contractual obligations will keep faculty/staff parking fees at the current $35 per year. The parking fees will also finance the maintenance and operation of the parking garage, the increasing costs of our current parking operations, the on-going improvements needed by our existing parking lots and the increasing cost of inter-campus transportation.
Students paying the new higher fees will be issued Husky Cards that will allow them access to the garage at no additional cost. Other community members who wish to use the garage will pay an hourly usage fee, similar to other Portland garages. In addition, we are discussing access plans for the currently designated student lots.
I realize that this is not going to be a smooth or easy process. But the passage of the November bond issue combined with the revenue streams outlined above give us our best and only chance at building a facility that is critical to our ability to expand in the future. We will hold two campus forums to discuss parking and transportation fees, on the Gorham campus on Tuesday, Feb. 12, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the downstairs open area of the Brooks Student Center; and in Portland on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m. in the Woodbury Campus Center.
USM President Richard Pattenaude