Subject:
Five-Year Capital Plan for SUNY and CUNY
Message:
Dear Legislator, As a constituent and someone who cares deeply about public higher education in New York State, I ask you to support S.5475 (Stavisky)/A.5472 (Glick). This bill requires the governor to submit five-year capital plans for SUNY and CUNY that meet 100 percent of the critical maintenance needs identified by each public university system. After suffering through more than a decade of austerity budgets, our public university systems need a robust five-year capital plan to address critical maintenance projects to ensure that our students, faculty and staff are learning and working in safe and healthy environments. Many of the buildings on SUNY
Dear Legislator,
As a constituent and someone who cares deeply about public higher education in New York State, I ask you to support S.5475 (Stavisky)/A.5472 (Glick). This bill requires the governor to submit five-year capital plans for SUNY and CUNY that meet 100 percent of the critical maintenance needs identified by each public university system.
After suffering through more than a decade of austerity budgets, our public university systems need a robust five-year capital plan to address critical maintenance projects to ensure that our students, faculty and staff are learning and working in safe and healthy environments. Many of the buildings on SUNY and CUNY campuses are 50 years old and due to a lack of funding, have not been properly maintained. In fact, many of these buildings are in desperate need of repair.
The last five-year capital plan for SUNY and CUNY, which concluded in state fiscal year 2012-13, provided our public colleges and universities with much needed stability and certainty by allowing them to plan for capital expenditures and keep up with critical maintenance projects. Since that plan lapsed, the state has dealt with the capital funding needs of our public universities on a less robust year-to-year basis to the detriment of our colleges, universities and three SUNY teaching hospitals.
Returning to a five-year capital plan is a more comprehensive way to address the funding needs as it will provide SUNY and CUNY with the ability to count on secure, sustainable funding that will enable them to plan for expenditures and will afford them the most cost-effective avenue to address outstanding critical maintenance projects. Simply put, an investment in a five-year capital plan is an investment in the future of CUNY and SUNY that will provide a safe environment for our students, faculty and all New Yorkers for generations to come.
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter and I respectfully ask that you raise this issue with your conference. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
and CUNY campuses are 50 years old and due to a lack of funding, have not been properly maintained. In fact, many of these buildings are in desperate need of repair. The last five-year capital plan for SUNY and CUNY, which concluded in state fiscal year 2012-13, provided our public colleges and universities with much needed stability and certainty by allowing them to plan for capital expenditures and keep up with critical maintenance projects. Since that plan lapsed, the state has dealt with the capital funding needs of our public universities on a less robust year-to-year basis to the detriment of our colleges, universities and three SUNY teaching hospitals. Returning to a five-year capital plan is a more comprehensive way to address the funding needs as it will provide SUNY and CUNY with the ability to count on secure, sustainable funding that will enable them to plan for expenditures and will afford them the most cost-effective avenue to address outstanding critical maintenance projects. Simply put, an investment in a five-year capital plan is an investment in the future of CUNY and SUNY that will provide a safe environment for our students, faculty and all New Yorkers for generations to come. Thank you for your consideration of this important matter and I respectfully ask that you raise this issue with your conference. I look forward to your response. Sincerely,
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