RUSSELLVILLE — The Arkansas Tech University board of trustees has approved a balanced fiscal year 2025 operating budget, as well as an updated budget for the university’s student union building project.

ATU will officially begin construction of the Ferguson Student Union, with a budget of $33,946,865, following approval by trustees during a meeting Thursday. In November, trustees approved a smaller version of the previously approved project in order to save money, and because fewer students are enrolled now than when the project was initially conceived several years ago.

“As soon as this gets passed, they’re ready to start back up” on construction of the building, Suzanne McCall, interim vice president of administration and finance, said Thursday. “I think everybody is ready” to get to work, she said.

The updated plan reduces square footage by 28% (27,000 square feet) from the original plan, ap

proved in August 2022. That plan included a proposed 94,802-square-foot student union/recreation center that would have cost nearly $50 million.

Trustees considered several proposals for downsizing the building — as well as making no changes — but President Russell Jones recommended the proposal trustees ultimately approved as a compromise because it includes many of the amenities that would’ve been lost in other proposals — to the consternation of students — but also saves money from the original plan, he said.

“I try to balance student satisfaction with fiscal responsibility,” Jones said.

It’s “a compromise for everybody, and I’m all about compromise, (even though) it doesn’t make everybody happy,” trustee Jim Smith said in November 2023. “We’d love to have everything,” but this “is a good resolution,” he said.

The latest plan includes the cost of demolishing the Administration Building and Tomlinson Hall, constructing the student union, and parking lot development on the south side of the new building, according to Sam Strasner, director of university relations.

Among the amenities of the 68,000-square foot Ferguson Student Union will be: student meeting spaces, lounge spaces, fast casual dining, an esports gaming lab, basketball courts, a location to check out outdoor recreation gear, and workout areas for cardiovascular and strength fitness training.

The building is named for Jimmy Ferguson, his wife, Cindi, and their family, as he served on the ATU staff from 1975-94, advancing to the rank of assistant vice president and dean of students, according to Strasner.

Ferguson and his family have owned and operated more than 30 McDonald’s restaurant franchises in central Texas over the span of three decades, and he has held numerous national and regional leadership positions with McDonald’s.

ATU has bonded for nearly $30 million for the project, and “we’ll start using those bond funds again once we start construction,” McCall said.

Bond funds have already been used for demolition to clear space for the new building, and the university will exhaust the bond funds — which must be used by the end of 2025 — before resorting to other funds it has set aside for the project.

The student union/recreation center was scheduled for completion in the summer of 2025, but that date has moved to the end of 2025 due to the revamping of the project’s size and scope, Jones said Thursday. “It’ll be (done) about 18 months from” now.

OPERATING BUDGET

Trustees also approved ATU’s operating budget for fiscal 2025, which begins July 1.

The fiscal 2025 operating budget was prepared with input from multiple university stakeholders, including faculty senate, staff senate, student government, faculty, staff and administration, according to McCall. The budget includes total revenue of $171,576,401 and total expenses of the same, for a net of zero.

The budget is up from the prior year — $169,987,378 — as ATU experienced an increase in interest revenue and used additional fund balance from unused special project funds, according to McCall. The overall revenue increase offsets an increase in scholarship expense, and the budgeted scholarship expense is based on actual accepted scholarships.

ATU is the state’s only public, four-year institution of higher education that committed to zero increase in tuition, mandatory fees and student housing costs for the 2024-25 academic year, and state appropriations revenue for educational and general support decreased $626,998 for this year, according to McCall.

However, interest/investment income is projected to surpass fiscal 2024 budgeted levels by approximately $3 million, resulting in an increase for the fiscal 2025 interest budget of $1,315,820.

BUILDING NAMING

Trustees also approved naming the university’s new agriculture building the Farm Credit Agriculture Building. In February, trustees voted to allow ATU’s College of Business and Economic Development to move forward with construction of a new building for the agriculture program.

Farm Credit of Western Arkansas donated $150,000, and the name will take effect once ATU receives the money, said Jason Geiken, vice president for advancement. The name will continue as long as the building is in operation.

It’s “really exciting,” and there will likely be additional naming opportunities in the future, as there are other donors, Geiken said. Roughly $450,000 had been pledged so far for the building.

“We have long needed improvements on the farm,” and this building “will be a great addition,” Jones said. The building will be filled with state-of-the-art equipment and work stations.

It’ll be “satisfactory to all concerned,” added Len Cotton, chairman of the board of trustees.

NEW TRUSTEE

New Trustee Cory Cox was also officially sworn in Thursday, following the board of trustees’ approving his appointment.

Cox, of Perryville, will complete Michael Lamoureux’s term, which expires Jan. 14, 2027, following his appointment by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year.

Cox graduated from ATU in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science before moving on to the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, according to ATU. He was legal counsel in the Arkansas governor’s office during the administration of Mike Huckabee (2000-05); director of the Arkansas Insurance Department Criminal Investigation Division (2005-08); and a partner at Hiland, Thomas and Cox (2008-10).

ATU was “instrumental in making me who I am and helping my career become what it has,” Cox said Thursday. “I wouldn’t have had the opportunities I did at Tech at any other school.”

Active in ATU’s Student Government Association and Student Activities Board during his time as a student, Cox has continued his interest in government, working as government affairs liaison and legal counsel for the Arkansas commissioner of state lands (2010-14), deputy general counsel for the Arkansas Department of Human Services (2014), legislative director for the Arkansas attorney general’s office (2014-17), and chief of staff for the attorney general’s office (2017-21), according to ATU. Since 2021, Cox has been employed by health care insurance provider CareSource as state director of government relations.

“I’m excited to help other kids (realize) the opportunities I had, and it’s a blessing to be a part of that,” said Cox, who has served on the Perryville School Board for several years. “I’m indebted and grateful to the governor for this opportunity.”

Lamoureux, of Russellville, stated in his resignation letter in late March that “My law firm has accepted representation of a client that will preclude my service on a state board.”