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Subcommittee hears systemwide capital needs as universities warn deferred maintenance is growing
Summary
At a Capital Budget Subcommittee hearing, DLS analysts and university leaders described growing deferred maintenance and specific urgent needs—including UMES switchgear replacement tied to flood mitigation, UMB infrastructure projects and a College Park construction cost discrepancy—urging full funding of renewal projects.
Chair Malcolm Ruff convened the Capital Budget Subcommittee and opened a series of fiscal 2027 capital presentations, saying the panel was holding its likely final hearing of the legislative session. Sarah Baker, legislative analyst for the Department of Legislative Services, presented the DLS capital analysis for the University System of Maryland office and its campuses.
Baker said the USM office packet included two system-office projects — the Caldwell Center and annual facility renewal — and detailed several budget adjustments. She told the subcommittee the capital budget would deauthorize FY2022 funds for the cancelled Challenger Center at Frostburg State and would repurpose $1,000,000 in general-obligation bonds originally authorized for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) toward demolition of Nettle Halls. Baker also recommended repurposing $3,100,000 in GEO funding, originally authorized for campus flood mitigation, to pay for emergency electrical switchgear replacement, noting, “The switchgear is the only controlled location for all power distribution across campus and is past its useful life due to deterioration from environmental factors.”
Baker said USM’s facility backlog has grown about 36% since 2019 to roughly $3.1 billion (fall 2024), with electrical and mechanical systems accounting for about 68% of deferred maintenance. She highlighted that under a revised Board of Regents policy institutions should aim to spend 2% of current replacement value on facility renewal and that including CIP projects in those calculations changes which campuses meet the target.
Chancellor Perman, responding for the system, thanked the committee and urged the subcommittee to support capital funding. He said the system remains committed to addressing renewal needs and that “fully 87% of the projects are aimed at this outcome.”
UMES President Heidi Anderson told the panel the steam-plant flood-wall design is complete and “shovel ready,” but design work revealed significant deterioration of campus switchgear, which she described as roughly 25–30 years old. Anderson said replacement of the switchgear is an urgent priority for operational reliability and safety and that UMES would implement interim flood protections until the switchgear replacement and permanent flood wall are complete.
Sarah Baker then presented the DLS review of University of Maryland, Baltimore projects, including an Institute for Health Computing that requires a program plan before GEO funds can be used, an accelerated School of Social Work building (lower-than-expected bids led to reallocation to equipment and subterranean utilities), and a dental ambulatory surgery center whose state share increases only modestly while institutional funds cover the remainder. Baker noted delays and cost increases on multiyear electrical infrastructure projects tied to developer coordination and higher material costs.
UMB President Bruce Jarrell said UMB concurs with DLS’s recommendations and urged the committee to adopt them.
On the College Park campus, Baker outlined a new Health and Human Sciences Complex to fit out Caulfield House and a Zupnik Hall project leveraging a $58.2 million Clark Foundation gift. Baker flagged a $7.5 million discrepancy between the university’s and DBM’s total cost estimate for the HHS project and asked how College Park would cover the shortfall.
President Darryll Pines said College Park is already in design and construction for elements of the project and stressed the investments support research, education and student success. Chris Phillips, the university’s director of planning and facilities, explained the gap stems from DBM reducing its escalation allowance; UMD will continue to work with DBM as bid and escalation data materialize.
During questioning, Chair Ruff asked about dedicated student "unity" spaces in the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building; Pines said those affinity/unity centers support community and student outcomes.
The subcommittee took the presentations and testimony under advisement. The hearing moved on to a separate miscellaneous-grants panel afterward.
