UNMC officials defend cancer center fundraising

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) ? University of Nebraska officials maintained Friday that they would rely solely on private fundraising and state aid to build a $110 million cancer research tower in Omaha, in response to concerns raised by Gov. Dave Heineman.

But Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor Harold Maurer said the broader $370 million project ? which includes a cancer hospital and clinics ? would also use $40 million in tax revenue from Omaha and Douglas County.

"It was public and private all along," Maurer told the university's Board of Regents during a scheduled update on the project. "It was never totally private. The (local) elected officials themselves feel that they would like to chip in on the project. This is an enormous project in terms of the economic development for the city, the region and the state."

Heineman said Thursday that he was never told the project would include local government funding. The Republican governor said he signed a $50 million state funding bill for the research tower with the understanding that no local tax dollars would be used. The law required university officials to first raise $60 million for the research tower ? one piece of the larger project ? before they received the $50 million in state money.

On Friday, Heineman reiterated that university officials left him with the impression that the entire project, and not just the research tower, would be paid with state and private money. He pointed to comments by University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken in public testimony that cast the entire project as a partnership of state and private money.

"The leadership of the University of Nebraska is on the verge of losing my trust and confidence in them," Heineman said. "I've always had a good relationship with them. I've always trusted them. But this is the first time where they've said one thing, and they're doing something else."

His remarks came as the Omaha City Council considers a new cigarette tax that would generate $35 million for the project, by imposing a 7 percent tax on a retailer's gross sales ? roughly 35 cents on a $5 pack of cigarettes. Earlier this week, the Douglas County Board of Supervisors committed $5 million to the project over a 10-year period.

Heineman said he still supports the Omaha-based project, but added that the move toward local tax funding would make him more skeptical about future university requests for state aid. Heineman's final term as governor expires in 2014.

Maurer said the $370 million project is expected to include $50 million in state money, $120 million in hospital debt, and $200 million in public and private support. The $50 million in state aid and the $60 million from fundraising would cover the cost of the research tower, and Mauer said that fundraising money would only come from private sources.

Maurer pointed to posters and other promotional materials the university has used in its fundraising that describe it as a partnership of public and private money.

But in earlier public statements, university officials have touted the private fundraising aspect without mentioning money from local governments. In February, Milliken told the Legislature's Appropriations Committee that the project would include $200 million in private fundraising.

"We're talking about a $370 million project, which would include $120 million of debt issued by our hospital partner, and then $200 million in private fundraising," Milliken said, according to a transcript from the hearing. "This is by far and away the most leverage we've ever proposed in a project where state money would leverage an additional investment, in this case $320 million. So we believe we will have, you know, a significant challenge but one that we're confident we can meet in raising that $200 million in private money."

However, in a joint statement on Friday, three state lawmakers who were involved in the projects said they were well aware that the university planned to seek money from multiple sources.

"The bill clearly stipulates that the state's funding is contingent upon the university raising 'private or other funds,' which the governor should know assuming he read the bill before he signed it," said Omaha Sen. Jeremy Nordquist, a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Another member, Omaha Sen. Heath Mello, said he expected the university to seek money from local sources.

"This is a good project, and it will take bringing people together at all levels of government, as well as the private sector, in order to get it done," he said.

Heineman said those comments were "the first I've heard that there was some side conversation going on with members of the Appropriations Committee."

Bellevue Sen. Abbie Cornett, chairwoman of the Revenue Committee, said university officials made clear in numerous meetings that public money, other than state money, was an option they would consider.

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=8c3f1d557a32c164db662f5a265733f0

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