Nearly a decade after voters approved funding for the facility, Forsyth Tech wants to redirect money left from two completed projects to help move the Learning Commons into construction.
WS Chronicle | Staff Report
Nearly 10 years after Forsyth County voters approved a $65 million bond package for Forsyth Technical Community College, commissioners are being asked to shift more than $5.3 million left from other bond projects into the college’s long-planned Learning Commons.
The money would come from two projects Forsyth Tech says are complete: about $4.26 million remaining from the Oak Grove Center/Main Campus renovation and $1.06 million from the Transportation Technology Center.
College officials say redirecting those funds will help move the Learning Commons into construction.
The request arrives with the facility carrying a total budget of $35.93 million, according to capital documents submitted through the North Carolina Community College System. County staff says inflation and higher construction costs have increased the amount needed to complete the work.
The number is notably higher than what voters saw when the bond package went before them in 2016.
At the time, The Chronicle reported that $21 million of the $65 million community-college bond was intended for a new Learning Commons with a library and technology center.
The two numbers, however, measure different things.
The $21 million was the local bond allocation attached to the proposal. The current $35.9 million represents the broader project budget and includes county bond proceeds, state funding and other financing that has been added as the plans have developed.
Commissioners are scheduled to discuss the transfer during their 2 p.m. briefing Monday, with formal consideration expected at their 6 p.m. meeting Thursday, Sept. 17.
A promise dating back to 2016
Forsyth County voters approved the $65 million Forsyth Tech bond on Nov. 8, 2016, by a vote of 114,666 to 51,412.
The package funded several major college projects, including improvements at Oak Grove, the Transportation Technology Center, the Aviation Center and the Learning Commons.
The Learning Commons was presented as a new home for library services, technology and collaborative learning.
Current plans call for a 48,000-square-foot building on Forsyth Tech’s main campus. Architectural materials describe classrooms, meeting and study rooms, faculty and staff offices, library space, a coffee bar, lounge areas and exhibit space.
The north portion of the building is planned for three floors, with two floors in the south wing.
County staff now describes the Learning Commons as the remaining Forsyth Tech project from the 2016 bond package that still needs to be completed.
The college is asking to use money that was not spent on Oak Grove and the Transportation Technology Center rather than leave those bond proceeds attached to finished work.
Before the proposed transfer, the Learning Commons had roughly $17.19 million in 2016 bond funding assigned to it.
Moving another $5.319 million would bring the county bond contribution to about $22.51 million.
State money has become a larger part of the financing
The county bond is only one piece of the current funding plan.
Capital paperwork lists about $11.11 million in state funding for the Learning Commons.
That includes $8 million already committed to the project and another $3.11 million from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund.
The financing plan also lists $2.3 million in unidentified funding.
Together, those sources produce the current estimated budget of $35,925,419.85.
Most of the money is tied directly to construction.
The construction estimate has risen from roughly $23.67 million in an earlier budget to about $30.52 million. Other expenses include design work, contingency funding, fees and about $1.4 million for initial equipment.
The growth in the overall budget does not mean the Learning Commons can simply be described as going from a $21 million project to a $35.9 million project.
The original figure reflected the amount of county bond money voters were told would support the Learning Commons. The latest figure combines several funding sources and a broader set of construction and development costs.
Still, the change illustrates how much more expensive it has become to deliver a public project first presented to voters almost a decade ago.
County staff specifically cites inflation and rising construction costs in explaining the additional funding need.
The building will create ongoing county costs
Opening the Learning Commons will also carry expenses beyond construction.
The college estimates the facility will require an average of $476,092 a year for staffing, maintenance, utilities and telecommunications.
Plant maintenance is projected to average about $174,200 annually. Housekeeping and facility operations are estimated at roughly $123,400, while electricity would add about $102,500.
Gas, water and telecommunications make up the remainder of the estimate.
Those costs matter because counties play a role in paying for the operation and upkeep of community-college facilities.
The state capital paperwork says the operating estimate will be provided to Forsyth County so local officials can consider future adjustments to the college’s budget after the building opens.
One major question remains: When will it open?
The latest county materials answer many of the financial questions surrounding the Learning Commons.
They do not answer the most basic timeline question.
Forsyth Tech’s Aug. 6 capital-improvement form lists the completion date as “TBD.”
A Sept. 3 letter from the college says transferring the unused bond money would allow construction to move forward, but it does not identify a construction start date or anticipated opening.
The county’s public Bond Tracker also appears to lag behind the newest financing documents.
It continues to show the Learning Commons with its original $21 million allocation and a status of “approved.” Oak Grove and the Transportation Technology Center are also displayed under older project statuses even though the new county paperwork says both are complete and have money available to transfer.
The tracker says its information is updated quarterly.
That makes this week’s request more than an accounting adjustment.
The vote offers a fresh look at one of the remaining promises from the 2016 Forsyth Tech bond package — what it was expected to cost, how it is now being financed and how close it is to becoming the building voters were told would serve students.
If commissioners approve the transfer Thursday, more than $5.3 million in unused bond proceeds will move from two completed projects into the Learning Commons.
The financing picture will be clearer.
The completion date will not.