NIC looks at site, funding options

COEUR d'ALENE - North Idaho College trustees are exploring all possible alternatives for financing an expansion of the college's technical education facilities, including asking voters to approve a general obligation bond.

During a board workshop Monday, the trustees heard from several invited speakers who also discussed the process of funding a new student activities center, a project spearheaded by NIC's student government leaders.

"We're here to try to gain an understanding of the funding mechanisms available for these projects," said board chair Ken Howard.

The trustees heard from the architects working on the plan for the student activities center; Jacklin Land Company representatives Tom Stoeser and Bruce Cyr; former state senator Jim Hammond; Jan Schwarnweber, business finance/loan officer for the Panhandle Area Council; Rayelle Anderson and Tim Komberec, representing the North Idaho College Foundation; bond attorney Danielle Quade; and representatives from bond underwriters Seattle Northwest Securities.

The site for the expansion of the professional technical programs has not yet been decided. Possible locations are the Coeur d'Alene campus, the Kootenai Technical Education Campus on the prairie, or in the now vacant Jacklin Seed Company property near the Riverbend Commerce Park in Post Falls.

Quade presented the trustees with several financing alternatives for the technical education building.

A general obligation bond offers the most favorable rates and costs, she said. Voters would have to authorize the trustees to issue the bond, and it would require two-thirds voter approval.

Quade sounded optimistic about the possibility of a successful bond election.

"I think you have a good story to tell the public," she said.

The plan, Quade said, is for the college to refrain from exercising the taxing authority created by a public vote. They would instead use funds from the existing property tax revenue stream to make the bond payments.

Another funding option is an annual appropriation lease, the same method that was used by the college to purchase the mill site property that is now part of NIC's expanded campus.

That process is more costly than the general obligation bond and would require a judicial determination to issue an unqualified bond opinion, Quade said.

For the student activities center, funding would likely come from bond issued by the Dormitory Housing Commission and secured by additional fees paid by the students, not the taxpayers.