A nonpartisan Wisconsin legislative analysis agency’s report released last week brought to light a provision of Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed biennial budget allowing a state department to sell or lease state-owned properties.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s summary, the proposed 2013-15 biennial budget would allow the Department of Administration to sell or rent out state property, regardless of whether the state agency controlling such buildings approves.

If the budget passes this summer, properties possessed by the University Wisconsin System could be included among those privately controlled.

Bill Elvey, UW associate vice chancellor for facilities planning and management, said he has no opinion on the provision. But he said he would give the governor and DOA “the benefit of the doubt” and acknowledge they are implementing this plan for good reason.

“I don’t think the intent of the drafted legislation was to sell off property the university needs,” Elvey said. “I think the idea was to identify property that could perhaps be declared surplus. We have property from time to time that is determined to be surplus to the university’s needs.”

The provision of Walker’s budget is likely included in conjunction with the proposal allowing the state’s Building Commission to sell or lease any Wisconsin-owned power plants under jurisdiction of a state agency. 

These power plant properties that heat and cool buildings are not limited to the UW System and can include buildings such as prisons in the Department of Corrections, Elvey noted.

Elvey said various properties donated to the university might no longer have a legitimate function at UW, such as the currently vacant Knapp House on East Gilman Street. However, he said the Knapp House is a rare exception and added each property must be evaluated on a building-by-building basis to determine whether it could be sold off by the state.

“They put it in there for whatever reason they put it in there, but I’m sure it was not intended to be harmful to the commission or the moral of the university,” Elvey said. 

He noted the provision to allow sale of state-owned properties is simply a proposal at this stage and still has a long way to go before it is written into law.

UW Board of Regents spokesperson David Giroux said he was less embracing of Walker’s proposal and he would like to see it removed or modified in a manner that would relieve some of its concern.

“We’re not sure what to think of it. Obviously, we care a great deal about the facilities and the land that we have,” Giroux said, adding the provision could in theory allow the state to sell a UW building. “We want to understand more what the intent of that language is.”

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said in an email to The Badger Herald he is concerned these UW buildings could be sold without the Board of Regents’ consent. But, he added Walker’s provision also removes the public bidding requirement currently in place before the Commission could sell state property.

The LFB summary said the proposed budget allows such property to be sold on the basis of “negotiated prices as determined through a competitive or transparent process.”

Barca said he opposes taxpayer-funded public resources being sold through such unspecified conditions.

“Gov. Walker needs to answer as to why he put such broad language in his budget and why he neglected to require a competitive bidding process that is spelled out elsewhere in state statutes,” he said.