Voters will be asked to approve $496 million bond measure for Rancho Santiago Community College District
Administrators of Santa Ana and Santiago Canyon community colleges will ask voters in March to approve raising $496 million through the sale of bonds to finance repairs to aging facilities and build modern learning spaces for students.
Repaying the bonds is expected to add to property tax bills about $20 annually per $100,000 of assessed value.
District trustees this week approved placing the measure on the March 3 ballot; it will require 55% approval to pass.
Voters in the Rancho Santiago Community College District approved similar bond measures in 2002 and 2012; the latest raises up to $198 million specifically for projects at Santa Ana College. The first bond measure financed $337 million in projects for both campuses. Both are still being repaid through levies added to property taxes.
Chancellor Marvin Martinez said there is still need in “a number of academic and administrative areas.”
At Santiago Canyon College, students have to trek from one end of campus to another to access support services such as the financial aid office, tutoring and programs for veterans that are housed in buildings “that have been temporary for 20 years.” There is no cafeteria on campus either, he said.
Santiago Canyon College is in Orange near Irvine Park.
The money raised if the bond measure is passed would help finish the 20-year-old campus, he said.
At Santa Ana College, an applied technology building is a top need, Martinez said.
“These are workforce development programs,” he said. “The current facilities that exist now for students are very much outdated. They are not state-of-the-art, they don’t reflect the workplace area or needs.”
Also the college district wants to replace the grouping of temporary buildings at Santa Ana’s Centennial Park that house its continuing education program for adults. Some 10,000 people attend the programs annually, Martinez said.
Officials said the money would also be used for maintenance work such as repairing leaky roofs, old plumbing and dry rot, as well as making improvements for students with disabilities and improving security features.
The money raised by the bonds would not go toward salaries or every-day operating expenses, officials said.
With interest, the cost to pay off the debt is estimated at $771 million.
The district serves residents in Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana, Villa Park and portions of Costa Mesa, Irvine, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Tustin.
“When students go and look for a campus to enroll in, they are looking for a campus that obviously looks good, that looks up to date, modern,” Martinez said. “It is a different type of student today. They are looking for more than a room with desks and a chalkboard.”
from https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Orange County Register https://ift.tt/2N2APMY
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