The budget for the Board of Trustees fiscal year totaled $937 million, as decided upon during its first 2010-2011 meeting Friday.
Crumbling classrooms constructed in the '50s and '60s on campus are supposed to receive attention in the next decade, while other facilities' budgets were discussed at the meeting.
"While there has been a good bit of construction here at Auburn over the last couple of decades, there really hasn't been a tremendous amount of investment in classroom facilities," said Dan King, Auburn's assistant vice president of facilities.
An excess of $200 million dollars in upgrades, renovations and existing structure replacements on campus were proposed to the board.
"If this was a perfect world and money was no object, replacement would be the desired option," King said. "But we are not in that perfect world, and money is an issue, particularly in the difficult economic times."
All of Auburn University's campus needs were approved.
"We built 2 million square feet here at Auburn over the last 25 years," King said. "About 5 percent of that was in classrooms."
Haley Center, Funchess, Upchurch, Spidle, Parker and Allison halls are some of the buildings being looked at for upgrades.
"From an academic standpoint, these facilities are problematic because they really no longer work that well as instructional spaces," King said. "Specifically, the classrooms are the wrong size. They are too small, made for about 25 students and the standard lecture."
From a facility standpoint, these buildings are in the worst condition, according to King.
"All these buildings still have their original main-building system," King said. "The roofs, the heating and ventilating system, fire alarms, windows and exterior are at the point of being worn out and need (to be) replaced or changed in a major fashion."
This conclusion was met through extensive research that showed the No. 1 academic priority was restoring the deteriorating buildings in the core of campus because they support the majority of the core credit hours, King said.
Other budgets were approved after the proposed $200 million in upgrades to the six core academic buildings.
The Department of Kinesiology's budget of $21.6 million was approved, and the department is supposed to move out of Beard-Eaves Coliseum because of mold and other hazardous surroundings.
The Coliseum will be torn down to construct a parking deck for daily and game day use.
The Small Animal Teaching Hospital's budget increase of $70 million to $74 million was approved, as well as proposed renovations to Sewell Hall, Hill residence halls and the Caroline Draughon Village.
Another $2.5 million was approved for pedestrian safety in response to the high number of pedestrians struck by vehicles.
After three years of no campus-wide salary increases for faculty, $13.7 million has been allocated to provide a one-time pay supplement to Auburn professors, according to Don Large, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
"Enrollment continues to be strong, right at a little over 25,000 students," Large said. "So we were able to balance (the budget), and that is pretty remarkable with $94 million in permanent cuts and $270 million in cumulative cuts."
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