April 25, 1997 -- Las Vegas, Nevada

The University and Community College System of Nevada (UCCSN) Board of Regents today approved a variety of plans for the deferred maintenance and upgrading of various UCCSN facilities using the Special Higher Education Capital Construction (SHECC) Fund generated by the "Slot Tax."

Item #1 Board Approves Allocation of Additional $7 million from SHECC Reserve to System Capital Projects

The Board approved the allocation of an additional $7 million over the biennium from the SHECC reserve account to capital projects across the System. If approved by the Nevada State Legislature, this $7 million would provide planning money for the renovation of Dickinson Library to accommodate the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Law School, planning money for the Redfield campus in northern Nevada, planning funds for the Western Nevada Community College library , funds for buildings and grounds at Great Basin College and funds for improved access onto the Desert Research Institute property in Las Vegas, among other projects. The plan also maintains a balance of $5 million in the SHECC reserve.

UCCSN Chancellor Richard Jarvis commented, " The Board approved a plan that will enable us to address some of the very real problems we have in the area of deferred maintenance and upgrading of our facilities This $7 million plan provides critical support to projects at UNLV, UNR, WNCC, DRI and GBC while maintaining a $5 million reserve in the fund."

Item #2: Board Approves Development of Plan for Deferred Maintenance & Modernization of UNR & UNLV facilities

The Board further approved the development of a plan by System staff for the deferred maintenance and modernization of facilities at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, Reno. A substantial portion of these funds are likely to be devoted to athletic facilities -- -- Thomas & Mack and the Silver Bowl in Las Vegas and the Lawlor Events Center in Reno -- -- and will require the System to issue new bonds in the amount of $51 million. The System will seek to maintain long-term debt service at a level equivalent to the current Pavillion Bonds for Thomas & Mack and the Lawlor Events Center of about $4.8 million annually.

Item #3: Partnership Challenge for Expansion of Thomas & Mack

The Board also endorsed a partnership challenge with the Las Vegas community to address the need for funding of the expansion of Thomas & Mack and the Silver Bowl.

Chair of the Board Madison Graves commented, "As Nevada's public system of higher education, we must direct our resources to our needs as they relate to the education of Nevadans. We will work as partners with those in Las Vegas seeking the major expansion of these facilities to accommodate the National Rodeo Finals, WAC Championships and Las Vegas Bowl. We are very supportive of these important community events and we will do our part, but we can't do the whole thing."

Slot Tax, Background Information

The "Slot Tax" is an annual tax of $250 on each slot machine that was established by Nevada State Revised Statures (N.R.S. 463.385) Since 1979, the distribution of the these funds has been as follows: $5 million is annually dedicated to the Higher Education Capital Construction Fund (HECC), the next 20% is dedicated to the Special Higher Education Capital Construction (SHECC) Fund, and the remainder, approximately $36 million in 1997, is dedicated to the K-12 distributive school account.