The state of the economy has pushed back construction of the University special collections library, initially set to break ground last month.

The University had planned on receiving $26.6 million in state bond money, coupled with $15 million in private investments, to fund the library that will hold the largest collection of Georgia history in the world.

However, the first bond sale has not yet happened, leaving the state money bank dry.

“We’re still moving forward as if we are going to get the money this year,” campus architect Danny Sniff said.

The problem is in the politics of bond sales. Bonds are public investments that offer annual interest based on risk level. The money invested in the bond can be etrieved at a later time – in the case of the upcoming library bonds, 20 years.

Risk rate is determined by three agencies, which look at things such as state revenue collection, the market and other financial information from the past two decades. The highest rating, Triple-A, denotes low risk and means the state pays the lowest interest rate to buyers, therefore using less taxpayer money.

“We needed to delay the sale until we had a better idea how the state’s revenues were looking,” said Lee McElhannon, director of bond finance for the Georgia State Financing & Investment Commission.

Georgia is one of only seven states to achieve Triple-A status from all three agencies, McElhannon said.

The first bond sale normally happens in August, making money available in September. However, in order to ensure Triple-A interest rates, the sale has not yet occurred.

The library construction project is part of the governor’s approved state budget, and was authorized by the legislature in July after 12 years of planning. It will be built in the triangle parking lot across from the Hull Street parking deck.

Sniff said the University knew in the summer the bond money would not come when expected due to the economy.

“It gave us more time to do planning,” Sniff said. “We’re actually getting better prices so we’ll probably have a little bit bigger building.”

Bill Potter, head librarian, also said he hopes the delay will have a positive outcome.

“My expectation is if the bids come in lower than we project the cost of the building, we should be able to make it a little nicer,” Potter said. “We actually downsized a few years back because construction costs went up so much. Now we may be able to recapture some things we lost before.”

He said the University may fully equip the building with things that may have otherwise been put on hold, such as additional shelving.

“We’ve got materials of tremendous value and this building will give us the ability to use them,” Potter said.

He said having a unified special collections library will lead to additional monetary and physical private donations.

The University is going to open bids for construction sometime in November, when the bond sale is expected to begin. If the sale goes through, money will be available in December.

The bond sale will raise $450 million in $5,000 increments for the state, making the library part of a greater state plan.

“We are just one of probably 50 projects,” Vice President of Finance and Administration Tim Burgess said.

Other projects include the construction of K-12 schools, prisons and new roads.

The special collections library project has already used $1.5 million in state five-year bond money for planning and design.

This is not the first time the University has funded a project this way. Almost every University building utilizes state bonds, and annually bond money is allocated for University physical repairs.

The most recent example is the new Pharmacy building, which was built entirely from bond revenue.