NIACC board approves $15 million spring bond referendum

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

NIACC will ask voters in its 11-county area including Floyd County to approve issuing $15 million in bonds for a variety of infrastructure and workforce training programs.

The North Iowa Area Community College board of directors agreed at the board’s monthly meeting Tuesday to hold the vote on March 3, the next date available in Iowa for a community college special election.

“This ballot measure is not only critical for our students today, but is also a vital investment in the future workforce of North Iowa,” said NIACC board President Doug Krabbe,

The money would fund the development of regional career centers, expand and enhance workforce training programs and provide for infrastructure improvements on the NIACC campus, according to information from the college.

If approved, this will be the first time in the college’s 100-year history, first as Mason City Junior College, then as NIACC, that it has issued taxpayer-backed general obligation bonds.

NIACC’s current total tax rate is 77.72 cents per $1,000 for the 2019-20 fiscal year, according to the Iowa Department of Management. As part of that, the current levy for plant and equipment is 20¼ cents, which is the maximum allowable by law and the amount every community college in the state levies.

The additional tax to pay off the NIACC bonds would be another 20¼ cents per $1,000 of net taxable value.

The approximate cost of the bonds to homeowners would be about $10 annually for a home with an assessed valuation of $100,000, after rollback and homestead credit. The college points out that is about 84 cents monthly.

The annual tax on agriculture land would be between 22 cents and 25 cents per acre, depending on the county.

Currently, the NIACC tax makes up about 2% of the total property tax bill of a homeowner living in a city in the NIACC counties. If approved, the bond increase would increase that to about 2½% of the total tax.

The March 3 ballot measure calls for the cost of the $15 million bonds to be assessed across the entire 11 counties of the NIACC service area, which consists of all of Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Franklin, Hancock, Mitchell, Winnebago and Worth counties and parts of Butler, Wright, Kossuth and Chickasaw counties.

If passed, the bonds would support upgrades of classroom technology and lab spaces, and support the expansion of career technical education, workforce training, enhance STEM-related career training, and expand and enhance health care training.

Proceeds from the bond would also help fund the creation of regional career centers outside of Cerro Gordo County.

These centers will be designed to offer high quality career technical education within 30 miles of every high school in NIACC’s district, and address the workforce needs and skills gap challenging local business and industry, the college said.

Funds would also be used to help renovate the North Iowa Community Auditorium, constructed in 1979, which hosts more than 57,000 visitors per year for entertainment, educational and other programs.

The college said the bonds will enable NIACC to increase its impact in the local economy, noting that it has provided more than $37.5 million in training to businesses and industries in the area since 2000.

“A February 2017 Iowa Department of Education report found that for every dollar invested in Iowa community colleges, Iowa gains $3.50 in state revenue and social savings, $9.30 in added taxes and public sector savings, and a 10.4% annual average rate of return for taxpayers,” the college said.

It also said that 35% of the high school graduates in its service area attend NIACC, and more than 80% of its graduates stay in the area.