College of DuPage will ask voters to OK $168 million

College of DuPage will ask voters in November for permission to borrow $168 million to help pay for a series of proposed capital improvement projects and infrastructure renovations.

The college's board Monday night unanimously approved the ballot question, which will ask voters to extend the college's current tax rate for another 20 years. Without doing so, the tax rate will drop, due to the payoff of earlier loans.

COD officials said the owner of a $300,000 home would see a savings about $35 a year if the measure fails and the property tax rate is lowered. Currently, the owner of that house pays about $200 a year in property taxes to the college.

Voters will decide Nov. 2.

Completion of the new Homeland Security Education Institute, more accessible parking and renovations to the physical education building, library and McAninch Arts Center are targeted with the funds.

COD President Robert Breuder said administrators approached the board about the possibility of extending the tax rate for the projects after results of a survey indicated voters would overwhelmingly support it. The first survey done in March showed 54 percent supporting the proposal. But after the college embarked on a "listening tour" to gauge public reaction and inform voters of the possible ballot question. Following that tour, a second telephone survey was conducted earlier this month by a contracted firm that showed almost 70 percent in support of the tax rate extension. About 500 voters were surveyed, he said.

"That far exceeded my wildest expectations," Breuder said. "I would have been happy with anywhere from 56 percent to 59 percent and gone to the board with those numbers."

However, some college employees remain skeptical about the new data. They complained that all the results from the first survey were presented, but only parts of the second survey were revealed and it didn't include key collection details.

Breuder has been at odds with faculty and staff since his arrival at the college two years ago. Recently, he asked for concessions from all employee groups to cut operational costs and reduce layoffs, but most employee groups balked and staffing cuts were made.

Breuder said he believes a capital improvement ballot question will be an easier sell to voters than one for operations, which he said voters consider a "black hole."

"It's tangible," he said about capital projects. "They can get their arms around it. There's an end to it."

Board President Kathy Wessel said it's still going to be a "hard sell" to get voters to approve anything involving taxes at this time.

"It's a matter of educating people and helping them understand the value they will get," Wessel said. "This will insure the infrastructure of the college will be protected throughout the years to come."

Breuder said accessible parking was one of the biggest requests found in the survey results. He said the college plans to use some of the funds allocated from the tax rate extension to build a multitiered parking deck south of the Berg Instructional Center that would hold upward of 2,800 vehicles. He said the parking deck would be topped with a conference center.

COD's boundaries encompass most of DuPage County and slivers of Will and Cook counties.