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Governor Promises Closer Look At State Help For Building Repairs At UW Campuses

Walker Cautions State Building Commission Authorizes Some Work

By
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
Gage Skidmore (CC-BY-SA)

Gov. Scott Walker said he’ll look at whether the University of Wisconsin System needs more money to make major repairs on buildings at various campuses.

The current state budget blocks borrowing for funds that the UW has traditionally used for roofing repairs, concrete replacemen, and other maintenance. So, UW officials recently transferred nearly $2 million in academic and research money to work on 24 repair projects.

Walker said the state Building Commission does approve other maintenance work.

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“Just about every meeting of the Building Commission, there’s routine maintenance that we put in place there,” Walker said. “There’ll be more we look at, but instead of building a lot of new structures with tax dollars, it’ll probably be focusing as we have in the past, on basic infrastructure needs.”

Some UW officials said delaying planned maintenance work could mean more buildings may eventually need to be replaced at a higher price tag.

The UW System said it has about 1,900 buildings.