There have been rumors about the UI's utility deficit for almost a year, and the News-Gazette had two pieces on Sunday about it. The first:
The deficit – slightly more than a year's worth of utility expenses – built up over five years as energy prices jumped by double digits and state appropriations failed to provide extra money for the UI to heat, light and cool its ever-expanding campuses, officials say.
"We had a budget for utility costs based on projections and recent history, and those utility costs soared well beyond what the expectations and projections were," Hardy said. "So we had to tap into various university reserves or savings to be able to pay our utility bills."
Cyclical spikes in energy costs are common, and prices tend to average out over time, he said. The UI used internal borrowing in the past, repaying other funds as the prices of natural gas, coal or oil dropped.
But natural gas prices spiked in 2004 and never came down. Coal prices rose as worldwide demand increased, particularly from China and India. And oil eventually topped $100 a barrel.
The second:
When Walter Knorr was hired as the UI's chief financial officer in early 2007, one of his first assignments was to prepare a report on the magnitude of the problem. The UI audit was not made public, but White said the findings were "very, very similar" to those in the state audit released Feb. 26.
Among them:
– The UI hadn't assigned anyone the task of reporting budget deficits for activities that cross campuses, such as utilities.
– University policy called for trustees to be briefed quarterly on budgeted versus actual spending, but utility costs weren't highlighted in those reports.
– UI policy was unclear about when trustee approval is required for money transfers between state accounts and unrestricted reserve funds.
– The accounting involved with utilities was "excessively complex," spread across all campuses and the central administration.
Discuss.
Could the U adjust its thermostats according to the season? I keep my house at 65F in the winter and 80 in the summer, and that seems to keep my energy bills down. Buildings could probably go down to 60 late at night during the winter when people weren't there working.
WICD-TV had the story first. I saw this story on WICD News Channel Fifteen two weeks ago. Reporter Ryann Hubbard did the story. I believe she aired the story before anyone else. Then, Rep. Rose brought it up at the U of I's budget hearing in Springfield. He blasted the University for not releasing her more information on the deficit through at FOIA she requested months back. Interesting. The University hiding information. Again.
The problem with adjusting the thermostats is that many of the buildings are so old, they are still heated by radiators and cooled by window ac units. They can't just turn down the steam and then turn it back up. In the Spring it would get so hot in the building I worked in, I would turn on my window unit to cool off my office. How efficient, a radiator and an ac on at the same time. The HVAC systems in the older buildings are ridiculously out of date. However, I believe they do regulate the temperatures efficiently in the new buildings. It's just that so many are so old and not efficient, at all, at the costs are way out of control.
...No one at the big U is a accountable for the problem. Everyone hates the unionized physical plant people with their goofy rules and outlandish fees. No one in charge of a building is responsible for controlling costs. There is no motivation to improve management at the university, in fact there is strong compelling evidence that no good management effort will go unpunished.
So is it a good thing or a bad thing that UofI provides their own power? I can't gather that from the two articles.
As one of anonymous's hated unionized physical plant employees, I take umbrage in the fact that we are to blame for cost mark up. For that one would have to point the finger at the ever expanding administrative level. The condition of the facilities at the U is typical of those who like the term "deferred maintenance", otherwise known as patch it until we can find the money to replace it. The U is finally installing metering devices to track utility costs. And will probably create another level of administration to look after it. There are so many concentric circles of administration here that even Dante would be amazed. But don't place the blame on the peopleactually trying to correct these problems...
"WICD-TV had the story first. I saw this story on WICD News Channel Fifteen two weeks ago. Reporter Ryann Hubbard did the story. I believe she aired the story before anyone else. Then, Rep. Rose brought it up at the U of I's budget hearing in Springfield. He blasted the University for not releasing her more information on the deficit through at FOIA she requested months back. Interesting. The University hiding information. Again."
This has been percolating for about a year. Someone was asking me last March or April why the NG wasn't covering the story.
$117 million seems to be a huge amount to be over budget....even for the University. Wonder why the growing deficit wasn't picked up in previous annual audits? Is it possible they got on the wrong side of some energy futures contracts?
"In the Spring it would get so hot in the building I worked in, I would turn on my window unit to cool off my office."
Do the windows not open? Jeez... please tell me you at least only used the fan portion of the unit, and didn't actually use electricity to cool off the office.
Drying Ink - Making it Readworthy
Nope, didn't work real well. Keep in mind, open the window, the ac unit falls out. So, that wasn't really an option.
What do you think the cost of heating/cooling the campus of the University will be for the next 5 years? Can you tell what the price of a gallon of gas will be next week? I suppose you would just tell me a lot more. That would be fine but when the Administration has to build a budget for the whole school and all parts of that school are just as important as energy costs, You would look at the projections and analysis and pick a number but many things can happen to effect energy costs.
I don’t think they need another layer of management to make the changes to improve efficiencies of the system. They also need to let the people that have been working on the system for years help them decide how to spend the deferred maintenance money. The people at the PPSB know were they have been patching things up for years and know what can have the biggest impact on these problems.