Gov. Kotek’s budget omits $60 million project at OSU-Cascades
Published 6:45 pm Wednesday, February 1, 2023
- The Edward J. Ray Hall, named after the former university president, opened in fall of 2021. It is the latest building to open at the Oregon State University-Cascades campus in Bend.
Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposed 2023-25 budget does not include capital construction funds for OSU-Cascades’ proposed $60 million health and recreation center.
The governor’s recommended budget, released Tuesday, is a 475-page proposal for how to raise and spend money in Oregon for the two-year budget cycle that begins on July 1.
The budget allotted no bonds for new capital construction at any of Oregon’s universities and colleges. Most of the money at other campuses in recent years has been for major renovations of existing buildings. As the newest four-year university in Oregon, OSU-Cascades requests are for portions of the build-out of the campus in Bend.
OSU-Cascades sought $45 million in state bonds to pay for the 40,000-square-foot health and recreation center. It would be located along Rim Road on the 128-acre campus in west Bend. Student fees would pay for the remaining $15 million. The university’s timeline envisioned opening the facility by the fall of 2027.
“It’s a large and important piece of the campus,” Christine Coffin, the communications director for OSU-Cascades, said Wednesday.
Budget proposals by governors are considered a starting point for the final document, which must be drafted and approved by both the House and Senate. The budget then would go back to Kotek, who could approve it, veto it, or make line-item vetoes in which specific spending items are removed. Any veto override would require two-thirds of members of each chamber. Democrats currently hold a 35-25 majority in the House and a 17-13 majority in the senate.
Andrew Ketsdever, interim vice president of Oregon State University-Cascades, said the university would seek to make the case to lawmakers and the governor that the project go forward in the upcoming round of bond funding.
“It is critical that Oregon’s public universities educate and support students in facilities that are safe and modern learning environments,” Ketsdever said. “These facilities enhance student success, increase innovation and research opportunities, and help contribute to Oregon’s workforce needs.”
The OSU-Cascades recreation center would include classrooms, faculty offices, sports courts, a yoga/dance/aerobics facility, a recreational and instructional rock wall, changing and shower facilities, and equipment storage. The plan also calls for up to two multipurpose recreation fields.
In a statement Wednesday, OSU-Cascades said the health and recreation center would also help the school build on its health-related degree programs, including current degrees in counseling and kinesiology, and future degrees in fields such as nursing, occupational and speech therapy and audiology.
The center would also assist with the region’s growing health care employment needs in partnership the St. Charles Health System and Central Oregon Community College.
The health of students would also be enhanced, particularly students who might not be able to afford private gym memberships in Bend.
In an April 2022 proposal sent to state higher education officials, OSU-Cascades planners said the proposed center could have major implications for attracting and retaining students. The funding request calls the center “one of the last standard college features missing from OSU-Cascades students’ experience.”
Kelly Sparks, OSU-Cascades’ associate vice president of finance and strategic planning, said last spring that the center would “allow us to become a true four-year campus.”
OSU-Cascades was approved by the Legislature in 2012 as a four-year university offering bachelor’s and graduate degrees. It opened in 2016 and now has 1,271 students enrolled, according to the university’s website. The campus is planned to grow to as many as 5,000 students as it builds out its master plan.
According to a study by ECONorthwest, by 2025 OSU-Cascades was projected to inject $196.8 million into the state economy, generating 2,083 jobs and $3.44 million additional annual state income taxes.
Bend Bulletin reporter Bryce Dole contributed to this story.
