Bond decision goes to college district board

Deirdre Newman

The Coast Community College District’s efforts to place a

multimillion-dollar bond on the November ballot is nearing the home

stretch as trustees may make their final decision tonight.

The idea for the bond, which would fund a laundry list of facility

improvements over the next 20 years, was first floated in March when

the district sent out a preliminary survey exploring voter interest.

While the original bond amount was $344 million, the district now

says it requires $370 million to fully cover its bases, said Erin

Cohn, the district’s spokeswoman.

Over the past few months, district staffers and consultants have

been busy crunching numbers and making contact with community members

to further gauge their level of support. Although the exact amount of

the potential bond was not disclosed to the community, the response

has been favorable, Cohn said.

“We sent some information to people in the mail and asked them to

send us responses, and we got really positive responses,” Cohn said.

The district also worked to identify other funding sources

available over the next 10 to 15 years and found $100 million that would not have to be included in the bond.

If placed on the November ballot, the bond will compete for

attention with a massive statewide bond of $13 billion for facility

improvements for campuses from the elementary to community college

levels. But the district is eligible for only a little more than $1

million of the November statewide bond and another $12-billion bond

that will be on the March 2004 ballot.

If the district bond passes, it would add about $16.76 per

$100,000 assessed home valuation to residents’ taxes, Cohn said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.