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Friday, March 29, 2024

Commissioners consent to last community college bonds

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The last leg of bond-funded improvements to Cape Fear Community College will proceed after New Hanover County Commissioners voted 4-1 to issue the remaining $40 million in bonds to build the Advanced and Emerging Technologies Center on the college’s Castle Hayne campus.

Questions about enrollment growth and instructional space sparked an hour-long discussion at the board’s last meeting, but during the Jan. 20 meeting, commissioners discussed the college’s role in economic development and community support for the bonds when explaining their votes.

Commissioner Rob Zapple said many citizens reached out to him to discuss their positions on the remaining bonds, including representatives from GE, Corning, CastleBranch, Vertex and other local business leaders.

“I’ve read and heard every message and considered, with respect, every point of view. This is a subject that has clearly touched an emotional nerve in our community, and I, along with all of the commissioners, appreciate your involvement and take this action with great seriousness,” Zapple said.

Vice Chair Beth Dawson said she weighed the decision as an investment in the local economy and considered what return the community will see on the investment in terms of job growth and quality of life.

Commissioner Woody White, who voted against issuing the remaining bonds, questioned the community college’s “lavish” and “extravagant” use of bond funds to construct CFCC’s Union Station and its humanities and fine arts center and whether those buildings contribute to a stated need for instructional space.

White said he was also approached by many voters, and attributed the 4-1 vote to political pressure felt by all commissioners.

“I know I had a lot of friends and political supporters that encouraged me to vote for it, but they were folks that really hadn’t taken the time to look at the enrollment numbers and hadn’t followed the process of the first $124 million that has been spent, and how it was spent. And so while I was respectful of those opinions, they did not sway me,” White said.

Both White and Commissioner Skip Watkins discussed the remaining bonds’ effect on the county’s growing debt and called for the county to reign in spending. Although he voted to issue the remaining bonds, Watkins said he will to continue to push for fiscal conservatism.

“We have got to not only stop incurring additional debt, but we’ve also got to be fiscally responsible with the annual budget. This is not going to be the last time you hear me talk about that,” Watkins said. “We have to control our spending. We have to learn to live within our means.”

Before the board voted, county finance director Lisa Wurtzbacher addressed varying estimates of enrollment growth underpinning the need for more instructional space at the community college. When college president Dr. Ted Spring spoke to the board during the Jan. 7 meeting, he cited a 37 percent increase in enrollment since voters approved the $164 million bond referendum in 2008. White offered a different picture of enrollment to the board, sharing research that suggested a decrease in enrollment. Both Spring and White attributed their statistics to the North Carolina Community College System.

Wurtzbacher, tasked with reconciling the growth estimates, pegged the difference in the number of enrolled full-time students, touted by White, and the “smoothed out” enrollment numbers used by the state to allocate funds for each student, touted by Spring.

The full-time enrollment numbers cited by White show a 19 percent increase from 2008, but an annual decrease in enrollment since 2011.

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