Payson Mayor Kenny Evans calls a recent setback in the construction of an ASU Payson campus a matter of “prenuptials.”
Senate Bill 1497 would have allowed the University and Arizona Board of Regents to create a separate legal entity, shielding them from liability if the campus were to run into financial woes in the same way limited liability corporations are protected.
“Nobody wants to think about the divorce,” Evans said.
But Gov. Jan Brewer, who cited “unintended consequences” in allowing the creation of an SLE, vetoed the bill in May.
Under SB 1497, the SLE could have created ancillary businesses — such as hotels or convention centers — to bring money to the campus, driving down tuition and other costs.
Without the ability to create an SLE, the University and Town of Payson must find a way to add $2,000 per student per year over 20 years to the campus’ budget, possibly through an increase in tuition, Evans said.
A tentative plan would put tuition at $2,000 or $3,000 less than the Tempe campus average, but still higher than the town and University had hoped, Evans said.
“ASU is working with the planning team in Payson on alternative approaches to the financial structure for the project and we remain committed to pursuing the project,” ASU Spokeswoman Julie Newberg said in an email.
The ASU Payson campus is intended to be a lower-cost, “green” university for up to 6,000 students, focusing on health care and other technical professions.
Despite first passing SB 1497 by a wide margin, the Legislature is now out of session and was unable to vote on an override of Brewer’s veto.
A new form of the bill can’t be introduced until the Legislature’s next session in 2012.
“It ended up getting vetoed even though we had overwhelming support,” Evans said. “I feel bad that I wasn’t effectively able to articulate the reasons for it [to Gov. Brewer].”
But the idea of an ASU Payson campus still has support, and will be looked at further, said Daniel Scarpinato, a spokesman for Arizona Speaker of the House Andy Tobin.
“I think there’s [still] interest in members in taking a look at this,” Scarpinato said.
He added that both the Legislature and University still have work to do in planning for the construction of the campus.
“A lot of things at this point are kind of unknown,” Scarpinato said.
Reach the reporter at clecher@asu.edu
