When required repairs and maintenance work on University buildings get passed over each year, they don’t just disappear.
They simply back up.
Every year, $9 million to $12 million of necessary building maintenance sits undone on the University campus, according to Facilities Services estimates. Currently, the University has a backlog of $123 million in repairs and maintenance that should have been done.
The $123 million figure only includes buildings classified as campus proper. The EMU, Athletics Department facilities, University Housing and the Student Recreation Center are not included in that number.
Facilities Services, the department that takes care of campus buildings and grounds, receives about $5 million each year from the University general fund.
“Our priorities are on a daily basis,” said Ron Bloom, operations manager for Facilities Services. “We’re constantly doing maintenance with the money we’re allocated. We eat up that money just trying to maintain the steam leaks, the condensation leaks, roof structures, gutters, just anything involved with the buildings.”
The $5 million pays for staff and the costs of repairs for about five million square feet of building space.
“That’s a buck a year for each square foot of maintenance,” Bloom said.
An additional source of revenue for repairs comes from the Oregon University System. The OUS receives money from the Oregon State Legislature every two years and then redirects that money to its seven member schools, including the University.
That money goes into a capital repair budget that is spent on larger projects.
These funds have not been enough to keep campus facilities in shape, Bloom said.
Even if $123 million was spent to complete all the repairs that have accumulated over the years, it would not upgrade the University’s facilities.
“That’s just to bring the backlog maintenance up to the status quo,” Bloom said.
University Capital Construction Manager Darin Dehle, who oversees the capital repair budget, said an ideal system would enable Facilities Services to do more preventative maintenance to keep facilities at a stable level of quality.
“The way most states fund academic institutions right now, you can’t do that,” he said. “There isn’t enough money, so you end up picking select things you don’t do every year, which probably should be done, and that qualifies as deferred maintenance. That grows every year. Most universities nationwide are probably in to $100 million plus of deferred maintenance.”
The difficulties of maintaining campus buildings can be compounded by the additions of new buildings.
When donors pay to construct a new building, money is not always allocated to maintain the new facility in a timely way.
“In a perfect world, there’s a system to add maintenance dollars when new square footage is added to campus, but it’s not always efficient,” Dehle said. While donors have proven willing to pay for new buildings, it is more difficult to find people interested in financing campus maintenance.
“Nobody would pay to do a roof,” Bloom said.
Without the funds to fix everything, Facilities Services must decide which needs are more pressing.
They use a Facilities Condition Index, which measures the condition of each building.
According to the FCI, Hendricks Hall, Fenton Hall, Johnson Hall, Condon Hall and Straub Hall are in the poorest condition of all buildings maintained by Facilities Services.

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