University selling house where presidents lived
Student tuition paid for home’s upkeep while its occupants lived free of charge
For nearly three decades, the University of Regina has owned a house where the institution’s president lives free of charge — but now that house is being sold.
According to the City of Regina, the house, located on Mcniven Avenue across from the U of R campus, has an assessed value for property tax purposes of around $875,000.
The university took ownership of it on June 11, 1991 and the institution’s presidents have lived there ever since.
Dave Button, vice-president of administration at the U of R, said the house has served as an incentive for people to take up the mantle of president, but the U of R has thought of selling the house for years.
With the combination of tough economic times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and former president Vianne Timmons’s departure to Memorial University of Newfoundland, now seemed a good time to get the job done.
“A house isn’t necessarily the best answer for a president, but in particular … in the current economic climate, having a house for a president probably isn’t the right answer and spending the money on other more important things probably is,” said Button.
“Indirectly, indeed it’s a cost to the university and it’s a cost to the students.”
Button said the house costs the U of R around $100,000 each year in upkeep and maintenance. This money comes out of the U of R’s operating budget, which is largely funded by tuition fees.
Kent Peterson has never liked the idea of a house for the president being paid for by students and taxpayers. He has advocated for its sale for 13 years now.
He first heard about the president’s house when he became a student at the U of R in 2007, and pressed for its sale through his four years there, including when he served as the University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) president in 2011.
“They pay their president a lot of money,” said Peterson. “You have students, who are also taxpayers, but then you have other taxpayers who are paying universities to give a free mansion to a president … It just doesn’t sit right with many, many people.”
In 2019, Timmons made $388,025 as university president.
“It’s embarrassing that a publicly-funded institution gives someone who makes $400,000 a year free housing. They can afford to pay their own mortgage or their own rent,” he said.
Peterson hopes the U of R takes the money from the house sale and puts it toward something that will directly benefit students, like the student emergency fund, which is in higher than normal demand by students facing financial difficulty because of COVID-19.
“Students have been paying to support that mansion … for years. It’s time that they get something back for it.”
Button said at least $100,000 of the sale will go into the student emergency fund.
The rest will go toward keeping the U of R’s overall budget balanced.
The university hopes to have the house listed for sale by the end of May.