The South Dakota State University Foundation wants to bond a portion of the construction costs for a new campus building through Brookings County.

Foundation representatives made the request at Tuesday's Brookings County Commission meeting. The SDSU Foundation received $26 million from the state's higher education facility fund to pay for the new Avera Health and Science Center, which is currently under construction, and is using private donations to fund the other $18 million, SDSU Foundation chief financial officer Tim Dwire told the commission Tuesday.

He said $16.5 million has been secured in private funds, including $15 million from the "private primary lead donor." Dwire apparently was referring to Avera Health, which SDSU officials have previously identified as a $15 million donor for the facility. Dwire said the $15 million will be paid over the next 10 years, but the foundation would like to use $12 million in "economic development revenue bonds" to pay for construction right now.

"That's why we're looking for financing for this, to carry us while we collect the remainder of those pledges over the next seven years," he said.

He said the bonds would be repaid as the rest of the $15 million rolls in over the next seven years.

Sheri Rotert, a Sioux Falls lawyer working with the SDSU Foundation on the project, later explained that county could assist the Foundation by issuing the bonds, which would be taxexempt and repaid in full to the lending bank by the Foundation.

"Under this statute, these bonds are not considered debts to the county with any statutory or constitutional limitations," she said. "The county is not responsible for repaying the bonds; it's solely the responsibility of the foundation." Can bond up to $30M

Rotert said bonding the project wouldn't preclude the county from agreeing to other requests, as a recent provision by the Obama administration provides non-profit entities the ability to borrow up to $30 million each in tax-exempt bonds in 2010.

Commission Chairman Dennis Falken asked Dwire why the Foundation became involved in funding the facility and why the state wasn't covering the entire cost. Dwire said the state was willing to fund the project but "just not to the level that the university wanted."

"The campus goal is to have a facility that's big enough to house and educate all of the students , and it could have been a smaller building, but having all these gifts in place, we're able to have a much larger building," he said.

Construction on the 96,000-square-foot facility began in June 2008 and is expected to be complete this fall. The work also includes renovating and attaching nearby Shepard Hall to the new building.

The health and science facility , to be located north of the Administration Building, will be used primarily by the College of Pharmacy, although SDSU officials expect 70 percent of the overall student population to attend classes there, according to Dwire. The facility will include classrooms, offices and research labs.

Commissioner Don Larson, who is a member of the local Growth Partnership Board, said he was concerned about supporting a project with lab and research facilities that could potentially compete with the county-supported Innovation Campus in northeast Brookings.

"From a business standpoint, you're my competitor, and how do I endorse something that's competing against me?" Larson said. Not competitors

Rotert said the lab and research facility "may or may not" have commercial uses and that she didn't see the two facilities as having competing interests .

SDSU Foundation President and CEO Steve Erpenbach added that the facility would give students more space where ideas could be formed and would be a "complement" rather than "competition" to the Innovation Campus.

The commission didn't make a decision on the request Tuesday but will consider it for action at a later meeting.

Commissioners granted a similar request from SDSU in 2007.

Contact Ryan Woodard at rwoodard@brookingsregister.com.