THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008
Harper Seeks $153.6 Million For Upgrades
By RICHARD MAYER
Journal & Topics Reporter
The Harper College Board of Trustees will place a "no tax rate increase" bond referendum seeking $153.6 million on the November ballot to repair older buildings and make other campus improvements over the next 10 years.
The question on the Nov. 4 ballot will state, "Shall the Board of Trustees of William Rainey Harper Community College District No. 512, Counties of Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry and State of Illinois, be authorized to build, equip, alter, renovate, repair and demolish community college buildings, build and equip additions to community college buildings, improve and equip land for community college purposes and issue bonds of said Community College District to the amount of $153,600,000 for the purpose of paying the costs thereof?"
"We'll serve over 41,000 students this year," said Harper College President Dr. Robert Breuder. "While we're pleased with our significant enrollment growth over the past 10 years, our older buildings are definitely showing signs of age and need to be renovated to keep up with increased use and strong demand for new programs."
In 1999, a $124.5 million referendum failed for capital improvements. However, one year later in 2000, an $88.8 million referendum passed for improvements including construction of Avanté Center for Science.
Since 2000, Harper has been paying off bonds from the $88.8 million referendum.
According to Breuder, between those two referendums, school officials conducted a survey within the community. In that survey, the board asked what would residents support, what their interests were and what the campus should focus on. Breuder said the board didn't do that for the first referendum.
According to school officials, the early pay down of the bonds will allow Harper to borrow additional money without increasing the current tax rate.
"Thoughtful and forward looking financial planning has been the hallmark of the Harper Board over the past 10 years and the 'no tax rate increase' plan to improve and renovate our campus is another example of that," said Harper College Board Chairperson Laurie Stone. "Given the cuts in state funding, it is critical that we protect our community's investment and not let our buildings fall into disrepair because of problems in Springfield."
School officials said for the past four months, Harper has been seeking input and advice from community members on the College's Master Plan and funding options to fix and renovate campus buildings.
As a result of PATH (Providing Advice for Tomorrow's Harper), the college received over 2,000 responses from open houses, post cards, community presentations and the PATH website.
According to Harper officials, the three open houses consisted of 35 community presentations to 775 people, two mailings of 160,000 each to every household in the district, 175 post cards returned, and 600 residents interviewed by telephone.
"The message from the community was clear, 'fixing and renovating your buildings is important, but don't raise the tax rate'," said PATH Co-Chairman and CEO of Northwest Community Hospital Bruce Crowther,
"Reluctance to pay higher taxes isn't a reflection on Harper, it's more of a function of the struggling economy," said Tom MacCarthy, PATH co-chairman and chairman and ceo of Cornerstone National Bank and Trust. "In fact, residents gave Harper high marks for academic excellence and cutting edge programs. Ironically, Harper becomes even more crucial to residents if the economy continues to decline."
Priorities of the Campus Master Plan include:
* Repair and renovations for 44% of the campus that is more than 30 years old
* Renewal and improvements of facilities for existing programs, specifically career programs.
* Development of new facilities for programs tied to community need and demand, including law enforcement, fire science and other public safety programs.
The total funding required for the Campus Master Plan, including immediate repairs, renovating existing buildings, state matches and new construction totals $334,011,472.
Harper College officials expect to receive $87,401,060 from the State of Illinois for approved projects, leaving a net funding need of $246,610,412.
Harper's main campus was built in 1969 and spanned 412,636 sq. ft. The current campus spans 1,2 million sq. ft.