Senate panel approves UI flood bonding

DES MOINES – State lawmakers are moving ahead with a $100 million bonding plan to help leverage federal, private and other sources to repair $743 million in flood damage to University of Iowa buildings.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 16-9 on Tuesday to authorize academic revenue bonding to partially finance long-term disaster recovery and mitigation efforts at the Iowa City campus that was ravaged by Iowa River flood waters last June.

The proposed $100 million to be financed with state tuition replacement funds from 2013 through 2040 would help meet the match for $478 million in federal funding. The repair pool also would include $80 million in insurance proceeds, $30 million in private fundraising, $30 million in bond proceeds from the UI parking system, and $25 million in previously approved bonding proceeds that will be redesignated to flood recovery.

“I think it's a go,” said committee chairman Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville. “I think it's a balanced package.”

Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, manager for Senate Study Bill 1325, said the state Board of Regents and UI officials plan to use the bond proceeds to replace Hancher Auditorium, the Voxman/Clapp music building and the Art Building East. Other affected UI buildings that would be eligible for restoration/mitigation efforts included the Art Building West, the Iowa Advanced Technology Lab, the Iowa Memorial Union, the Theater Building, the Museum of Art Building, Hawkeye Court apartments and the UI power plant/energy distribution systems.

Sen. Steve Kettering, R-Lake View, the committee's ranking Republican, said GOP senators voted against the measure because the support a pay-as-you-go approach that does not encumber the state with payments starting at $5 million in 2013 and ranging up to $8.7 million until the flood notes are off in 2040.

“There's enough money in the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund to do this as a pay as you go without ever having to put bonding until 2040 on the books,” he said. “There's plenty of money from the gambling revenues to do this over the next four years.”

Keith Saunders, a lobbyist for the regents' board, said the UI flood recovery efforts will be a long-term process, noting that Hancher Auditorium and other buildings may have to be torn down and rebuilt at alternative sites.

"We will have construction crews on campus for a number of years,” he said. “We had over 20 buildings affected by flooding and this is a major, major undertaking."