UH President and Chancellor of the UH System Renu Khator and Carl Carlucci, vice chancellor of administration and finance for the UH System, traveled to Austin on Tuesday to appear before the State Senate Financial Committee to request $17.5 million for damages suffered from Hurricane Ike.
‘No amount of careful planning could avoid the terrible wind damage, particularly to roofs and windows,’ Khator said in front of the committee. ‘Although all of our buildings have had emergency repairs to prevent further water damage, some of the roof repair work has not been completed, particularly the badly damaged Architecture building and the Recreation and Wellness Center.’
The State Legislative Budget Board received the proposal on Jan. 27, but its terms were modified’ Jan. 29.
The proposal covers damages suffered by the four UH System schools, amounting to over $27.5 million.’ The cost of the damages can be divided into two categories, Khator said, $17 million in physical and operational damages and $8 million for loss of employee time.
The total net losses are partially offset by the $13 million requested for UH, which suffered the most damage, $2 million for UH-Clear Lake, $1.7 million for UH-Downtown roof damages, and $198,000 for lost employee time for UH-Victoria, which incurred no physical damage.
UH System received around $5 million in insurance from AIG and anticipates $3.6 million in additional claims, Khator said.
The University System has not yet received any money from FEMA, Khator said, but anticipates around $9.7 million – 20 percent less than originally expected.
On top of these payments is the $17.5 million left in damages Khator and Carlucci are asking the state to provide for.
University officials have determined the amount needed for repairs based on the insurance claim each facility has. Only major facilities have been included in the proposal, Carlucci said.
Carlucci said the insurance policy on each building reflects the value of the facility based on age, value and replacement cost of the building.
The Committee, however, was not convinced of the need for $8 million for loss of employment time.
District 20 Senator and Committee Vice Chair Juan Hinojosa said he did not understand why the UH Systems was asking for this amount.
‘If they couldn’t do their job, how does that cost the state money?’ he said.
Carlucci said the amount reflects employees lost revenues when some could not go to work or were asked to do other jobs. He said the amount was also based on additional costs incurred by the universities rather than employees’ regular contract pay.
‘What we tried to do is to make sure that we were compassionate regarding those people who had to take leave and we gave them a certain amount of time we paid for,’ Carlucci said, ‘and then they were required to take their own leave.’
The Committee gave no conclusive number on what, if any funds, the UH System would receive.
The Financial Committee will continue to hear testimony at 8:30 a.m. today at the State Capitol in Austin. The hearings can be viewed live on the Senate’s website, http://www.senate.state.tx.us/ bin/live.php.
