The university no longer rents Gibson Hall, formerly used by the Continuing Education Section; and the A.M. Barr arena where the fall Holstein show is held and equine students get most of their training is slated for closing next March, unless costs come down.

The university pays an annual fee including utilities of $124,800 for the Barr arena.

Dr. David Hume, associate vice president of research at U. of G., told a meeting of directors of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture in Toronto that higher fees caused the university to stop performance testing on crops at Kemptville. The research station at Thunder Bay and the Sheep testing station at New Liskeard were closed because of high rents, he said.

In 1995 the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food paid out $75 million for education and research across the province. That figure has been reduced to $50.5 million, says Hume, and education and research are suffering.

High rental problems stem from the way the Ontario Government now does business. The government created ORC and told it to charge rents to recover costs. Realizing there would be problems, the provincial government gave the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food an additional $9 million to pay the rent on its educational and research buildings.

When the ministry gave the university the agricultural education and research responsibilities for the province, it gave the university the $9 million to pay ORC. But the amount the university now pays ORC for rent is $2 million more than it receives.

What’s more, the ORC has already withdrawn some of its services and service fees are escalating, Hume says. Kemptville College pays $1.765 million this year for rents, services and utilities. But more than half the rent is eaten up by a lucrative maintenance contract for $1.3 million over two years to Macton Electric. Utilities are not included. Hume says the university can do its own maintenance at a fraction of the cost.

Some of the charges sound like they were created by "accountants in Disneyland," he said. The contractor in western Ontario spent $7,000 for work completed at the Elora Research Station but charged a $140,000 management fee.

When the university built a new barn, the Realty Corporation, not only claimed ownership, Hume says, but asked for $72,000 for the demolished barn.

At Kemptville, the Realty Corporation charges $12,000 per year rent for an outside manure storage facility. The facility was built in 1992 with Ministry of Agriculture money.