Pima Community College is preparing to ask voters to approve a $250 million general obligation bond this November — its first bond election in more than 30 years — to modernize aging facilities, build new workforce training centers and refinance existing debt.
The proposal, presented at a governing board study session Monday night, would fund roughly a dozen projects across the district, from a new public safety training center at the college’s east campus, to $56 million in deferred maintenance on buildings dating back to the early 1970s.
Jeffrey Nasse, who has been the PCC chancellor for 18 months, framed the ask to voters as essential, noting the college has no dedicated state operating funding, faces uncertain federal revenue and has been stretching its own reserves to cover capital needs for years. He said the college held tuition and property taxes flat last year while cutting $4 million in recurring operating expenses through consolidation and attrition — but it can’t keep doing that.
David Bea, the executive vice chancellor for finance and administration, presented the bond proposal in detail.
The $250 million package would fund:
- a new Center of Excellence in Public Safety at the east campus,
- a new campus police headquarters on the Drachman Street side of the downtown campus, where the college demolished several historic motels,
- student support center expansions,
- centers of excellence in cyber/IT, arts, and STEM,
- Center of Excellence in Education, tied to the new bachelor’s degree program,
- $56 million in deferred maintenance,
- and refinancing some existing revenue bonds to save $2.8 million in future interest and free up $4 million annually in the operating budget.
Some of the items are interconnected. The paramedic training program, for example, would move to the east campus, out of the 29th Street facility, which is a 1950s-era former elementary school building that the college leases. Bea described that facility as “substandard” with “major facility deficiencies.”
“Moving the first-responder-type programs to east campus, to new state-of-the-art facilities, is a very high priority of these bond projects,” he said.
If the bond plan is approved by voters, the cost to a homeowner with a $250,000 property would be roughly $31 a year over 20 years or $46 a year over 10 years, Bea said.
Answering questions from the board about what would happen if the bond election were to fail, Bea said more tuition increases would be needed and the college might have to consider whether it can sustain all five campuses. “It could be kind of dark,” he said.
At a public meeting March 4, the board will vote on whether to send the bond proposal to Pima County voters this November. At that meeting the board will also consider in-state tuition increases and differential tuition increases for high-cost programs like nursing, welding and aviation.
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