UNLV building costs in question

CARSON CITY -- Lawmakers questioned Thursday how a $14 million budget estimate to finish the Science and Engineering Building at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, had ballooned to $21 million.

Senate Finance Chairman Bill Raggio, R-Reno, asked whether the estimate provided by the Nevada System of Higher Education was low-balled.

"We need to know earlier on when we approve these projects whether those estimates are in the ballpark," he said.

Raggio said the question is how much of the $7 million increase was because of faulty or low-ball estimates and what portion was because of inflationary rises in the cost of construction.

If providing low estimates is a common practice, then other higher education projects might see the same sort of unanticipated increases, he said during a joint Finance and Ways and Means subcommittee meeting looking at capital construction projects.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said lawmakers were told in January 2006 that the request would total $14 million to finish the project. Of that amount, $7 million was for work on the labs and $7 million for furnishings.

Assembly Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, said the increase from January 2006 was dramatic.

"That's a lot of money," he said. "What could have changed?"

Gus Nunez, manager of the state Public Works Board, said the agency upped the estimate after reviewing the information provided by higher education officials.

The $21 million will provide for the completion of labs and the purchase of furniture, fixtures and equipment for the building.

Nunez said increasing construction costs were the big reason for the substantial rise in the budget needed to finish the project, not an increase in the cost of furnishings or equipment.

Gerry Bomotti, vice president for finance at UNLV, agreed, saying the biggest part of the increase was for construction of the laboratories. The portion of the budget for furnishings did not change significantly, he said.

The original cost projection to complete the labs was based on an estimate only, Bomotti said.

Similar concerns were raised on other higher education construction projects.

Buckley asked for justification for the increases.

"It's obvious that we need a new process," she said. "We're going to have the same issues in every single one of these projects."

Buckley said the blame for the unanticipated increases is probably shared by the higher education system and the Public Works Board.

"I think there is fault on both sides," she said. "We have to know the true scope of the projects in beginning."