[August 03, 2008]

VVC bond up for vote: Board of trustees to determine if $297 million bond makes November ballot

(Daily Press (Victorville, CA) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 3--VICTORVILLE -- A $297.5 million bond measure to build additional facilities and pay debts for past campus improvements will be voted on by the Victor Valley College Board of Trustees on Tuesday.

The trustees will vote whether to place the bond measure on the ballot in November, where it will need at least 55 percent of the taxpayers' approval to pass.

President Robert Silverman said the bond is crucial to the future success of not only the college but also the economic welfare of the High Desert.

"This is a college that is over 40 years old, and we have not had the proper amount of maintenance money and expansion money to keep up with our growth," Silverman said. "We have to do everything we can to train a work force to support the future of the valley, and give our students that have graduated from high school and our residents an opportunity to be trained in the paying jobs here instead of sending people down the hill."

Among the new facilities the bond would support is a new work force center in Hesperia. This is expected to decrease traffic congestion on Bear Valley Road and train more students in health care and hospitality.

The bond would also fund a public-safety training facility in Apple Valley, which Apple Valley Fire District Division Chief Art Bishop said he expects to be the biggest emergency-services training center in Southern California.

Victor Valley's bond attorney David Casnocha, said that because the state does not provide adequate funding for facilities, "nearly all the colleges in California have passed a general obligation bond like this one."

"The state gives the colleges money for their classroom instruction, but there's no more state money to speak of for bricks-and-mortar projects," Casnocha said.

The bond's plan includes spending $53.45 million to retire previous funding for college improvements, which will free up $3 million per year to put into the classroom, according to the proposal.

The public-safety training center will cost $25 million, the work force development center will ring up $160.3 million, and $58 million will be spent on new improvements, according to proposal estimates.

The 2008 proposed bond would cost taxpayers $1.70 per month for every $100,000 of their assessed property valuation.

According to California education code, the bond issuance cannot exceed 25 years from the date the last bond is sold, but selling the bonds depends on fluctuating market prices. Casnocha said his "wild guess" would have taxpayers paying the $1.70 rate for 30 to 35 years.

The board approved a $3.3 million bond in 2006, but the measure lost by 2 percent, or about 1,200 votes, Silverman said. He expects the bond to fare better this time around because the plan is more detailed and easier to follow, and it would also cost voters less than the previous proposal.

"It's leaner, it's meaner, and most importantly, though, it's going to be more clear," Silverman said.

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