In a rare move, the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association announced at a rally on Oct. 11 its endorsement of a bond measure that would fund facility construction and improvements at Allan Hancock College campuses.
If approved by voters, Measure Y2018 would bring $75 million to Hancock campuses in Northern Santa Barbara County to build entirely new facilities and classrooms, make much-needed renovations to aging buildings–some that are 50 years old–and purchase updated equipment and technology.
Lanny Ebenstein, education chair for the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association, said at the rally that after a careful analysis of Measure Y, association members agreed it would be "an excellent investment in the future of North County."
"Allan Hancock is North County's leading educational institution for higher education," Ebenstein said at the rally, where a few community members gathered outside the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce to show support for the bond. "It does a great job for its students, and it's great for the economy."
Although Ebenstein said the Taxpayers Association, a nonprofit advocacy organization, often analyzes various ballot measures and initiatives, he told the Sun it's rare that the organization publicly endorses them. But Measure Y would go toward better providing the affordable higher education Hancock offers to roughly 14,000 students in the county, he said, and at a reasonable price.
While $34 million of Measure Y would be taken from a partially unused bond that was approved by voters in 2006, $41 million would be provided through an $11 per $100,000 assessed valuation property tax. That tax would be in addition to property taxes that were approved with the 2006 bond.
"The average cost for a Santa Maria homeowner would be about $2 per month," Ebenstein said at the event. "We think the advantages that will come to Santa Maria and all of North County, Lompoc, and the Santa Ynez Valley will well exceed this investment."
If approved, Hancock President and Superintendent Kevin Walthers said the bond would mostly go toward improving Hancock's Science Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), Career Technical Education, and fine arts facilities and resources.
In Santa Maria, the funds would be used to renovate the athletic training rooms, fitness labs, locker rooms, and classrooms in the physical education facilities. If approved, Hancock will also be awarded $24 million in matching state funds to replace its aging fine arts facilities, which Walthers said were built in the '60s.
In the Santa Ynez Valley, Walthers said Measure Y would be used to buy equipment for the PCPA theater in Solvang, and improve technology resources on campus. Improvements would also be made to Lompoc's Public Safety Training Complex, Walthers said, which would help better prepare the community's current and future first responders.
None of the bond will go toward salaries, Walthers said, and all expenditures will be subject to annual independent audits.
"The other part of it is, we're not repairing things we should have already fixed," Walthers said, adding that with a growing enrollment and constantly changing job market, Hancock needs all the funding it can get. "We've got 50-year-old buildings, and when you're trying to teach virtual reality in a classroom that was built in 1960-something, it just doesn't work."