UMS committee reviews five-year capital plan and multi‑year financial forecasts; trustees seek detail on benefit-rate risks and space use

Trustees received a sequence of system-level briefings covering the five-year capital plan, multi-year financial analysis (MYFA) and a campus-level financial scenario run for USM.

Nate Harris, interim director of capital planning, presented a FY26 one-year capital plan of about $269 million and a five-year plan totaling roughly $1.16 billion, with the University of Maine and University of Southern Maine accounting for most planned investment (about 86% of the five-year total). The plan includes $430 million targeted to renovations and renewals of existing facilities and large, complex projects that account for a majority of dollars while being a minority of project counts. Harris noted 56% of the five-year funding remains "to be determined" and that planned removals/demolitions are contingent on about $26.5 million in demolition funding.

The committee also reviewed the system five-year forecast and drivers: assumptions include 3% tuition increases, 4% compensation growth and projected increases in the benefit rate (system benefit costs are a large and rising portion of payroll). Vice Chancellor and finance staff explained that benefit-rate increases and a newly baked-in paid-sick-leave cost materially widen budget gaps in later years of the forecast. Trustees asked for greater transparency on online vs. in-person enrollment projections (which affect space planning and revenue models), asked how shared-service charges are being treated, and requested historical breakdowns of capital spending sources (debt, grants, philanthropy, auxiliary/revenue) over recent years.

Separately, staff demonstrated an AI-assisted scenario-planning tool used with USM's financial statements to model how combinations of expense controls, fundraising and enrollment changes affect primary reserve ratios over multi-year horizons; USM reported improvement from an FY23 operating deficit to a FY24 surplus while reserves remain negative. Trustees asked that future scenario runs be synchronized with the system MYFA assumptions for easier comparison. Committee members asked for follow-up data on the online/in-person credit-hour mix by campus, the composition of the benefit-rate bucket, and recent capital funding sources; staff agreed to return detailed tables in subsequent meetings.