ECC will ask for your money

Elgin Community College trustees unanimously decided Tuesday to draft a referendum request for the April 7 ballot.

They will ask for the sale of $178 million in bonds - used to fund the first portion of a $387 million master plan to fully update the college by 2030.

The request, according to college estimates, works out to about 3.5 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation, or EAV. For the owner of a $200,000 home, taxes would increase by approximately $23 each year; for the owner of a $350,000 home, about $40.

The bonds would go toward purchasing land adjacent to ECC's Elgin campus; expanding and redesigning its library; updating parking lots and reconfiguring traffic patterns on campus; renovating its student resource center; and adding a new training facility for police, firefighters and emergency management technicians.

Maintenance projects, including installing a sprinkler system and energy-efficient windows, which have been deferred in recent years due to a loss in state funding, are also part of the plan.

The decision by trustees to turn to taxpayers came in response to Tuesday's report on the findings of ENCORE, an aggressive four-month campaign that sought community input on a campus master plan.

Harper College in Palatine launched a similar feedback program last spring; a $154 million proposal passed in a November referendum by a 56 to 44 percent margin.

With the nation's economy in a downward spiral, ECC officials were still quick to support the plan.

ECC has not received state funds for capital projects since fiscal year 2004, ENCORE Co-chairman John Jilek of Sleepy Hollow said.

Enrollment at the college has swelled by 1,000 or more students every year since 1999, and the district is projected to grow from more than 400,000 residents today to 600,000 residents in 2020. Health career programs, including nursing, are capped at the college because of facility limits, college President David Sam said.

While many of the 774 individuals surveyed suggested ECC identify cost-saving measures in improving facilities, 59.4 percent of those surveyed agreed they were willing to support an increase in taxes, Jilek said.

"Given the state of the economy, it is vitally important to strengthen our community college," he said.

"We found 100 reasons why to pursue this and one reason not to," Co-chairman Fred Norris of St. Charles said. "The economy is the 900-pound gorilla. It's out there. But we need the job training, the skills developed here on campus - to stimulate the economy locally. If we sell this properly and sell this positively, we can and will go forward."

The college's last efforts to seek a tax hike failed in 2006.

ECC: Tax hike failed in 2006