Construction costs to fall on Bruins

Construction costs to fall on Bruins

Students expected to pay $113 fee for seismic renovation

By Patrick Kerkstra

There is a bill attached to the seismic reconstruction of
Kerckhoff Hall and Ackerman Union ­ and Bruins will be the
ones paying it through a new student seismic fee.

When retrofitting efforts on the two buildings are completed,
the university will begin charging students an annual payment,
tentatively set at $113, to cover the costs. A definite figure will
not be known until the completion of construction on the two
buildings.

"The fee will be partially determined by total project cost,"
said Susan Santon, Capital Programs’ director of finance and
capital strategy. "Another variable is the number of students in
place (at UCLA)."

Retrofitting efforts on Kerckhoff and Ackerman are now being
paid for by a bond the university issued to private investors. In
the future, students will pay back the debt to investors, including
interest, over a span of 27 years.

"The lion’s share, two-thirds of it, will be paid by the fee.
The fee applies to the life safety part of construction," said
Jason Reed, executive director of the associated students.
"One-third of it, the part that applies to the Ackerman expansion,
will be paid by ASUCLA net revenues."

After a structural report showed that over 30 buildings on
campus were seismically at risk, the university and students’
association became concerned about the safety of campus structures,
officials said. This led to the creation of the university’s
Seismic Correction Program in 1987.

"The Capital Programs division of UCLA went to the regents and
said, look there’s a real seismic risk here, and we need to do
something about it. Will you authorize a student seismic fee up to
some limit per student per year, until the bond is paid off (they
asked)," said Co-Chairwoman Karol Dean of the associated students’
board of directors finance committee.

The regents agreed, and the student seismic fee was born.

However some students resented the additional charge.

"I suppose I’d be more sympathetic to the fee if they weren’t
trying to raise reg fees already," said Ari Bernabei, a fourth-year
art student.

Others said they were glad that the association was
strengthening their buildings.

"I don’t like the idea of paying another fee of course, but I
think it’s worth it to have safe buildings," said second-year
history student Lindsey Narin.

However, there is a chance that the fee could be lowered if the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds a substantial
portion of the structural improvements on Kerckhoff and Ackerman,
officials said.

"There are two kinds of FEMA funding," Dean said. "One is the
kind you get to repair something that’s broken. Another kind of
funding is the kind you get to mitigate future damages, so that the
next time an earthquake comes, you don’t get broken again."

Most of the project, about $37 million, according to the
associated students, applies toward the prevention of future
damages.

"The FEMA funding we’re reasonably likely to get is repair for
damages suffered because of the earthquake itself," Dean said.

Officials fear that student chances for FEMA relief are hurt by
the previous existence of funding for the project.

"One thing we’re afraid may harm our chances is that these
projects to fix Kerckhoff and Ackerman, were planned with a source
of funding already in place ­ the student seismic fee." Dean
said.

"The government may look at this and say, let’s give our money
to somebody who doesn’t have any other source of funding," Dean
added.

The scheduled completion of the two buildings is spring
1996.