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College Park seeks to retain campus building funds as DLS urges minor deferrals
Summary
University of Maryland College Park officials urged the subcommittee to reject DLS recommendations to defer $7.5 million in GO bond funding and discussed the interdisciplinary engineering building's sustainability components and tax-credit eligibility under the Inflation Reduction Act.
University of Maryland College Park President Darrell J. Pines and Department of Legislative Services analysts described multiple College Park capital projects and disagreed with some DLS recommendations to defer funding.
DLS budget analyst Sarah Baker said three projects are scheduled to receive funding in fiscal 2026, with discussion focusing on the new Interdisciplinary Engineering building. The CIP leverages $58.2 million from the Clark Foundation and DLS reported the total project cost rose by $19.7 million to $243.6 million. The project includes sustainability elements such as a wastewater recovery plant, energy‑efficient mechanical equipment and provisions for a photovoltaic array.
Baker said DLS recommended reducing GEO bond funding by $4,000,000 for sustainability components and adding language to replace that amount using PAYGO special funds from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund Energy Efficiency Account. Baker also said DLS recommended deferring $7,500,000 in GO funding for a campus-wide building system and infrastructure project from fiscal 2026 to 2027 because the program has been slow to encumber and expend funds.
President Darrell J. Pines asked the committee to reject the proposed deferral and said the delay would defer implementation of critically needed deferred maintenance. Pines also clarified his view of tax-credit eligibility: "the Inflation Reduction Act does not provide tax credits for overall energy efficiency, it provides tax credits only for certain technologies of clean energy generation, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and electric vehicle charging stations. The only element in the project eligible for tax credit is electric vehicle charging stations, and that tax credit is negligible." Pines thanked the committee for support of graduate student housing and noted the General Assembly expressed intent for $5,000,000 annually from fiscal 2026 to 2032 to support below-market-rate graduate housing, but the CIP does not show funding beyond 2026.
DLS recommendations and the university’s responses were recorded for the committee’s consideration; the transcript does not record a formal committee vote on the funding-source recommendations.
