USF To Seek $20.5 Million For Lakeland Campus

By ADAM EMERSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 24, 2007

TAMPA - University of South Florida trustees are trying again to nab state money to help build a new Lakeland campus, asking for double what they failed to get this year.

Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed $10 million the Legislature approved to start construction on the new campus, which USF officials envision as the state's first public polytechnic university.

On Monday, trustees agreed to ask the Legislature next spring for $20.5 million in the 2008 budget year for USF Lakeland.

"We've lost a year now," said Marshall Goodman, the Lakeland campus's chief executive.

If the university doesn't get the money, the campus's future could be jeopardized, Goodman said.

Unless "substantial" construction money is poured into the project by June, the Lakeland property could go back to the Oklahoma company that donated it to USF.

In 2004, the Williams Corp. donated about 500 acres along Interstate 4. The company, however, could exercise a clause that allows it to take back the property if construction doesn't progress, Goodman said.

"Now, we're on a deadline," he said. "It certainly has focused our attention on getting the construction funds next year."

Williams Corp. officials are comfortable with the $20.5 million USF is requesting, Goodman said.

But times are tight. Crist didn't explain his decision to kill funding for USF Lakeland, but the $10 million the Legislature sent for his review was far more than the $1.7 million the state's university board initially asked lawmakers to consider.

The governor couldn't reduce funding.

Days before Crist released his review of the state budget in May, Florida TaxWatch, a Tallahassee watchdog, labeled the $10 million for USF Lakeland a "turkey."

The group criticizes legislators annually for trying to funnel millions to projects that receive scant government review.

About 24 hours before Crist announced his vetoes, however, TaxWatch removed USF Lakeland from its turkey list. Crist killed the project anyway, and his aides later said that the TaxWatch report had nothing to do with the governor's decision.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.