Campus parking improvements will be spared after the Government of the Student Body passed a $50,000 bill to increase funding for the commuter transit center.

GSB is following through on a commitment it made last year of $125,000 towards the project. The university has given $230,000 to the $405,000 project, which is $65,000 more than the original budget.

The project is scheduled for completion later this spring.

With the current financial situation, the university cannot give anymore money to the project without jeopardizing other capital improvements on campus.

“We need to finish our commitment to show GSB gets things done and follows through,” said GSB Sen. Joe Darr, off-campus. “By voting no, we’ll be hurting future parking projects for students.”

If the bill had failed, the ISU parking division would have had to pick up the additional cost, said Doug Houghton, program coordinator for the Department of Public Safety. Decreasing the amount of money the division could spend on parking improvements such as 600 additional parking stalls for students and faculty, he said.

“This is more than a bus stop,” he said. “It’s not just a Plexiglas shelter – it’s a place for commuter students to get connected to the university.”

The university gathered input on improvements to the commuter parking lot in 1997, he said. Out of the review faculty, staff and students felt a need for a transit hub.

The hub includes a heated room for about 50 commuters to gather in a climate-controlled environment as they wait for the bus – with an outdoor-covered area.

A rest room – one of the most costly and controversial additions to the hub – was added after commuters requested the need.

“We could have solved the problem by cutting the restroom,” Houghton said. “If we are going to serve off-campus students well, we wanted to keep the restroom.”

The original GSB Senate Bill stated GSB’s commitment was not to exceed $125,000. GSB’s total commitment is now $175,000 from the special projects account. The account has about $300,000 in it.

“It’s not so much the number, but the commitment,” said GSB Sen. Tony Luken, LAS.

Neither the university nor GSB had thought the project would increase in cost, Houghton said. The original idea for the total construction costs were in the neighborhood of $70,000, he said.

“Doing the building right now will mean future upgrades,” he said. “This is a good project, serves the students and the ISU community.”