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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1986)
State and Local Friday, February 28, 1986/The Battalion Page 3 Diversity contributes $350.7 million Study says A&M aids B-CS economy Peih ra neei U. nduie By MONA L. PALMER Stuff Writer Texas A&M contributed 150.7 million to the Bryan-Col- te Station economy in 1985, a diversity study reports. Thomas Taylor, director of ac- oiinting services and acting con- roller in the fiscal department, ^ys, “The impact is in two cat- egmies — one being the direct expenditures of the University, the other being the intangible ef fects we have.” iThe direct dollar impact in- ludes the amount of payroll on ■mpus, estimated student Tending and visitor spending, he fhaso «e.; espeti ndsii sf'• ^Taylor also says campus con- ruction indirectly affects the lo- 1 economy. jThe report, which was done by llpxas A&M President Frank E. Vandiver’s office, says A&M paid about $41.6 million to contractors for construction. This influences the local economy through con tractor purchases and the em ployment of area residents. The report also says the Uni versity spent about $27.8 million locally for utilities, services and supplies. Taylor says A&M’s impact has increased steadily since 1983, with a big jump between 1983 and 1984. In 1983, the University as a whole contributed $319 million to the local economy compared to $344 million in 1984, he says. The student contribution in 1983 was $102.5 million but jumped to $ 105.6 million in 1984. The report says that in 1985 students contributed $105.8 mil lion to the economy with food and housing accounting for the major expenditures, along with clothing, school supplies and rec reation. Bookman Peters, president of First City Bank, says “The relationship of A&M in the com munity is critical to the local econ omy. “T exas A&M is the largest em ployer by far. I would guess that the second largest employer might be GTE and A&M employs five or six times as many people as GTE. That in itself tells the whole story. “We are extremely sensitive to what happens there and certainly this area has boomed and grown because of the growth at A&M, and there is no way I can over state the importance of A&M to this community. “That goes beyond just finan cial. That goes into intellectual, recreational and performing arts — the scope is broad.” Peters also says he is concerned about the effects of Gov. Mark White’s budget cuts on A&M and the community. Taylor says the fiscal depart ment can’t make projections about A&M’s future economic impact. “We had some thoughts, some projections last week, which prob ably don’t mean very much this week,” he says. “We were predict ing another slight decline in stu dent enrollment next year but we anticipate it beginning to stabilize after that. “We plan to continue an in crease in research volume al though at a slower pace, but be yond that I’d hate to predict anything at this point.” overnor stresses importance of budget cuts By FRANK SMITH Stuff Writer mind I mdera trii! I so non entf iov. Mark White visited College endic; kjon briellv Thursday and reiter- Dwarc |d his belief that the state’s esti- iU'd SI.3 billion revenue shortfall I I e met by his proposal for 13 > getE |p|nt budget cuts for state agen- eavots p . . RVhiteexpressed confidence in his , ■p <ls d following his 30-minute ad- ul “~§ss to the 28th annual County Bgi and Commissioners' Confer- lejwhich was held at the College 'H™' ition Hilton. |l|also said he still doesn’t think PPt■ ce ^ai-v to call a special session [heri' lht Legislature to help solve the jlel financial crisis. Tlyou look at the numbers we ifweddB. that’s what we’re going to rely lanorli-1 think we can get very close to to itilmr goal is," White said. “ Just |lit|in alone will save us $400 mil- 1 —that’s a pretty good start.” Vvlite added that higher educa tion will be cut in areas that don’t af fect faculty salaries or educational xjualitv. However, he said adminis trative overhead costs will be very closely evaluated. In his conference speech. White lamented the expenditure of $38 million every two years for remedial education courses in state colleges and universities. “Thirty-eight million dollars tea ching kids how to read and write?” he said. That’s what we’re going to start doing in f irst grade.” White said the budget-cutting plan will require the imagination of workers in each state agency as well as cooperation between both the public and private sectors. He cited an example that he said demonstrated the need for such co operation, saying he was recently told that car companies manufacture police cars only at a certain time of year. Consequently, some departments purchase the cars during the limited time they're available and extra cars sometimes sit idly on parking lots for months and depreciate, he said. “That’s not the American business svstem working for the consumer,” White said. “ There the consumer in this case — we the state government, vou the county government and yes, all of us as taxpayers.” White also told the conference that Friday he asked President Rea gan to impose a temporary variable tat iff on imported oil. “All we’re saying is that there has been dumping in the oil market,” White said. “Saudi Arabia is dump ing oil into the market and artifi- ciallv driving down the price. “The administration in Washing ton savs that’s not so — that this is just f ree market forces at work. Any body that would believe that would believe anything.” After making his conference speech, White said he has not re ceived a response from Reagan about the tariff proposal although the President has consented to meet sometime in the future with White and (Oklahoma Gov. George Nigh. “I’m anxious for a meeting with him because I think it’s vital to the future of our country’s national se curity that we have adequate oil sup plies to fuel the ships, the tanks and. the planes that we rely upon for our nation’s security,” White said. In Washington, the Senate Fi nance Committee conducted a hear ing on Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen’s bill calling for the creation of a per manent, variable tariff on oil im ports and a minimum per-barrel price to protect the domestic oil in dustry. During that hearing, J. Roger Mentz, a Reagan administration offi cial, told the committee that raising taxes on imported oil would cost the average family up to $365 a year, pe nalize the poor, hurt key allies and damage the nation’s trade balance. Andersen defaults on construction of A&M building By GRETCHEN HOELSCHER Reporter With more than $6 million of con struction still to be completed on the new chemistry building, B.B. Ander sen Construction Co. has defaulted on its building contract with the Texas A&M University System, which will result in a delayed com pletion date. Officials at Andersen didn’t re turn phone calls when contacted by The Battalion. Construction on the building be gan in 1984 and was scheduled to be finished this May. Now, however, the building prob ably will not be ready until well after the start of Fall 1986, said George Cole, a project manager at A&M’s Facilities Planning and Construction Department. A specific completion date is hard to pin down at this time, Cole said, because weather also affects con struction progress. According to a letter from Gen. Wesley E. Peel, vice chancellor of Fa cilities Planning and Construction, to Chancellor Arthur G. Hansen, the contract between A&M and B.B. An- defsen was terminated for default Jan. 15. The United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co., the insurance com pany for B.B. Andersen, had to find another contractor to complete the job. Don Mills, a project manager for the company, said Avery Mays Con struction Co. will take over the pro ject. “The bonding company came to us and asked us to have a look at the job and see if we’d be interested in taking it over,” he said. Avery Mays then sent a solicited proposal to the insurance company to complete the remaining work on the structure. Following a recommendation by Vice Chancellor Peel, the Texas A&M Board of Regents approved the takeover agreement at its last meeting and Avery Mays Construc tion replaced B. B. Andersen Con struction as the contractor for the new building. Avery Mays will have to meet the same contract requirements that B.B. Andersen did. But the actual change was not as easy as signing a contract. “It didn’t just happen overnight,” Mills said. “Andersen kind of phased themselves out, and we just kind of moved in right behind them.” Although the actual contractor has changed, Mills said, Avery Mays will use the same subcontractors and subcontracts that had already been signed with B.B. Andersen. However, the subcontracts will have to go through a ratification process that involves approval by Avery Mays and the insurance com pany that hired them. Mills said. “We have not finished ratifying everyone’s contract yet,” Mills said. Cole said it won’t cost A&M a cent to change contractors in the middle of the project. According to Gen. Peel’s letter, Avery Mays will complete the work on the building for $6,435,897.64, the unpaid balance in B.B. Ander sen’s old contract, plus a contractor’s fee that will be paid by B.B. Ander sen’s insurers. Therefore, the building will not cost A&M any more than the amount originally appropriated by the regents. Mills said he is not worried about the ability of Avery Mays to fulfill their contractual obligations to A&M. He said there are no unusual problems associated with putting up a structure on a college campus, with the exception of traffic and parking. “It’s kind of a hassle sometimes to get material in here,” Mills said. “We usually try to get most of the big loads of material in early in the morning before classes start.” warn