A statement by the UCF Board of Trustees said: “UCF used incorrect funds for the construction of Trevor Colbourn Hall, which was originally approved in 2014. The funding source, state Education & General dollars, cannot be used to pay for the construction of new buildings… The issue was included in a Florida Auditor General preliminary finding, which was first discussed with the UCF administration in late August.”
It added that: “In addition to the E&G dollars inappropriately used in Trevor Colbourn Hall, UCF has identified additional money that was inappropriately spent on construction projects during the past five years.”
An article in the Orlando Sentinel went into more detail about what happened.
UCF “used $10 million intended for operating expenses on construction and improvements to existing buildings, on top of the $38 million that leaders admitted last week was misspent on the new Trevor Colbourn Hall,” the article reported. “In addition, university leaders say they used nearly $3.8 million in operating funds on renovation projects that may have violated state rules.”
William Merck, the UCF vice president for administration and finance who served while the project was developed and finished, has resigned. The UCF BOT has hired an external investigator and the administration has “identified eligible funds to replenish the E&G dollars and transferred those funds quickly.”
Earlier this year, then-Florida House of Representatives Speaker Richard Corcoran blasted UCF leaders in a letter he sent to the university.
“I am baffled by how the actions of one irresponsible officer’s effort at flouting the Legislature’s and state university system’s budget controls could result in a four-year-long unauthorized endeavor of this magnitude,” Corcoran wrote. “There are only two possibilities: that others within UCF were aware of and conspired in this misuse of public funds, or your administration lacks the necessary internal controls to manage its fiscal responsibilities.”
The News Service of Florida reported that the House has launched its own investigation into Trevor Colbourn Hall and that “Corcoran also called for more frequent reviews of spending and operations at UCF by the state Auditor General’s Office.”