By Juan Ibarra/editor-in-chief
A new proposal was voted on and approved that could possibly give TCC a total of $825 million in bonds and notes for the purpose of “constructing, improving and renovating and equipping” the buildings in the TCC district.
The usual proposals were heard during the regularly scheduled board of trustees meeting on Aug. 15.
Normal construction updates as well as some remodeling services were the majority of the meeting, however one very large amount of money being voted on were subjects of the most recent board meeting.
“This is intended to call the election for an $825 million bond program for the November election,” Chief Operating Officer Susan Alanis said.
The idea behind this proposal of a bond election would be to garner some money in order to make renovations. However, in the history of TCC there has never been a bond election for an amount of money as high as this, including money for construction.
“That is much, much higher than any of the bond elections we have had in the past,” Bill Lace, former vice chancellor of administration, said. “The highest prior to this was $70 million. That was in 1993, and that was the one that financed the construction of the SE Campus.”
The operating budget for TCC in 2019 is approximately $397 million, therefore making the bond proposal more than double the amount needed to manage the college district for a year.
“That [bond proposal] was nearly three years in the making with a lot of visioning, a lot of sticky notes, a lot of discussion and debate,” Chancellor Eugene Giovannini said.
The amount of effort and planning has culminated in the creation of this bond proposal, which was given no further explanation past “constructing, improving and renovation and equipping buildings.”
“Since we last held a bond election, TCC has doubled in size and we now have six campuses serving more than 100,000 students annually,” TCC Board President Conrad Heede said. “The bond election will allow us to address the present and future needs of all our students.”
While the growth of TCC has overall increased student enrollment, it has also affected prices.
The priority to stay up to date with technology and resources for students is one of TCC’s most important goals.
It remains to be seen whether the bond will be well received by the community. In order to get ahead of the message there are plans to host events and forums for people to participate and learn more as the November election comes closer.
“There will be community forums relating to the bond program itself, I will also be at the campuses speaking to faculty and staff, as well as some community events in doing so,” said Giovannini.
