Allan Hancock College recently refinanced Bond Measure I, which was passed by voters in 2006 and used to fund $180 million in facility and technology improvements on the college’s campus. The refinancing process is expected to save taxpayers nearly $10.3 million over the bond’s lifetime.
The bond refinancing process is similar to home mortgage refinancing, according to Hancock. Through this process, the college is able to refinance and retire outstanding bonds by issuing new bonds. This is generally done to reduce Hancock’s interest costs by taking advantage of lower interest rates and can result in significant savings by reducing the debt service payments, according to Michael Black, vice president of Finance and Administration at Hancock.
“The bond refinance is great news for our neighbors who have long supported the college,” Hancock Superintendent and President Kevin Walthers said in the release. “If you include the bond refinance completed in 2014, the college has saved taxpayers a combined $16.2 million. That money will stay in our community rather than go toward paying interest on the bonds.”
Since the passage of the bond, Hancock has made major improvements to its campus. Measure I funded projects include the Public Safety Training Complex in Lompoc, Industrial Technology Complex, Student Services building, new sports fields, and the Children’s Center addition.
Hancock also took a step forward on the Fine Arts Classroom Building project when the Hancock board of trustees voted to appoint the project’s architectural contract to DLR Group, an integrated design firm that has worked on numerous K-12 and higher education facilities throughout the country.
The $48 million building will be the largest of Measure I projects, and will feature an 88,000-square-foot, two-story building and recital hall that will house the college’s visual arts, multimedia and applied design, photography, film and video, dance, and music programs. The fine arts department is currently housed in five separate buildings built in the 1960s.
A five-member review committee that included faculty, staff, and administrators recommended DLR Group to the trustees from a pool of 16 submitted proposals. The committee chose four of the 16 applicants for interviews.
The fine arts building will also be partially funded by $24 million in Proposition 51 funding that was awarded to Hancock in June. The remaining half of the cost for the project will be locally financed, partially through a $10 million gift left by Patty Boyd to support the college’s music program. Boyd, a former Hancock faculty member and local music teacher, died in 2012, leaving her estate to the physical assets of Hancock’s music department.
The Fine Arts Complex will be built near the middle of the Santa Maria campus in unoccupied space between the Performing Arts Center and buildings C, K, and S. The college plans to break ground in spring 2019 with hopes of completion in 2021.
This article appears in Dec 14-21, 2017.