By
early February, $31.6 million from revenue bonds that EPCC is selling
will be available use for long-overdue and new projects.
Still, this only accounts for half of the college’s needs, said
Ernie Roberts, assistant to EPCC President Richard Rhodes.
The decision to use revenue bonds over general obligation bonds was
based on the fact that the college has a growing revenue and that
these bonds hold no tax consequence to property owners, said Roberts.
A revenue bond is a special municipal bond that can be sold or exchanged
based on a revenue-generating company. In other words, EPCC can buy
or refund these because of the money they make. A general obligation
bond, on the other hand, is a legal contract between the bond holder
and issuer used for repayment. Thus, in order to use these, EPCC would
have had to consult the community which it affects.
In addition to selling revenue bonds, a series of older bonds such
as series 1995, 1997, 1997B, portions of 1998, 1999 and 2001 bonds
were refunded. This process of refunding unused bonds saved the college
an excess of $1.9 million.
The
college expects more and more soldiers from
Ft. Bliss to be taking classes as the post numbers
increase with its expanded mission.
Photo
by Fernie Garcia, EPCC Marketing
According to Roberts, changing these bonds is much like refinancing
a house because it lowers the interest amount and prolongs the value
of the new bonds.
“With the new money we’ll be using it to carry out construction
on virtually every college campus,” said Roberts.
Roberts assures that EPCC will not raise tuition based on the use
of these bonds; instead, other factors such as a sudden influx of
students educational needs and the need of more instructors might.
Other factors, such as the expected influx of troops to El Paso and
Fort Bliss wishing to enroll at the college have also been considered.
Roberts said they have received a number of estimates ranging from
20,000 soldiers to as many as 50,000, families and dependents.
Roberts said that EPCC is in close communications with the leaders
at Ft. Bliss as well as US Representative, Sylvester Reyes, who must
approve legislation for the land transfer of a possible new campus
at Ft. Bliss.
Peter Brock, spokesman for Reyes said that, “Reyes is right
in step with it [building of new Ft. Bliss campus] and will do what
he can to move it in the right direction.” Though it is still
in the early stages of negotiation and contracting, Brock said that
Reyes is ready to help and awaits the ribbon cutting.
According to Roberts, EPCC has undergone “dramatic growth”
and “one of the challenges we face is that every office space,
lab and class space is already full.” Key projects the Board
of Trustees are looking at include every current campus and the possibility
of new ones.
At the Valle Verde campus, Roberts said they would like to: construct
a new fine arts building which would house the art programs, music,
drama and dance programs.
“We are hopeful that private donors will get onboard and get
some revenue for this project,” said Roberts.
At Mission del Paso, which Roberts said is one of the fastest growing
campuses, the need for more classroom space is great. Northwest campus
needs additional classroom and office spaces. Rio Grande campus, home
to Nursing and other medical programs is quickly filling despite the
fact that another section was built across the street from the old
campus.
As a result EPCC “is engaged in extensive discussion with Texas
Tech,” said Roberts.
“One of the projects we hope will be part of the equation is
to build a building adjacent of the new medical school and relocate
the nursing program.”
This big change could offer EPCC students easier admission to Thomason
hospital for their clinicals as well as access to new technology available
at Texas Tech. Fort Bliss might be the biggest change with an even
stricter timeline.
As a result of the soon arriving troops to Ft. bliss, there is need
to construct an entirely new campus also located on Ft. Bliss.
“There is strong support from senior leadership at Fort Bliss
and Reyes to locate a partial of lands to build a new campus,”
said Roberts. It will still remain a part of EPCC, however, and agreements
will include community usage of the new campus as well. Roberts said
they hope to gain at least 70 acres of land.
The Administrative Services Center is already undergoing many changes
future which include major renovation, mostly of the B building.
This building currently houses the Cosmetology program but, “is
still mostly undeveloped warehouse space,” said Roberts.
A number of departments may soon relocate to the ASC such as: sections
of Mass Communication (VV), the Culinary Arts program (TM), Shipping
and Receiving (VV) and the Cielo Vista library located on Viscount.
Consideration has also been taken for the accessibility issues of
the ASC.
There is much that needs to be done for the growing college, but these
bonds are only half the revenue needed.
“When we look at it all to determine costs, I strongly suspect
that when we put an actual dollar figure, we’ll exceed the dollar
value,” said Roberts. “We will try to prioritize by what
we need and by what we can delay and do down the road.”
