If the Gavilan College Board of Trustees was to put a $155
million bond to voters in San Benito County, Gilroy and Morgan
Hill, the bond would pass.
By Jodi Engle
South Valley Newspapers
If the Gavilan College Board of Trustees was to put a $155 million bond to voters in San Benito County, Gilroy and Morgan Hill, the bond would pass.
Sixty-three percent of registered voters surveyed by the firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maulin & Associates would approve or would “probably” vote yes to support the bond, the firm said. The Gavilan bond would require 55 percent voter approval.
“It all bodes well for the bond’s passage,” said Diane Hathaway, research associate with the survey firm, at a meeting with trustees last week.
However, when shown how the $155 million bond would affect their property taxes, voters shied away from the $25 annual increase per $100,000 of assessed property value. Only 50 percent supported the bond with the property tax figured in. Voters were more willing to pay an extra $12 in property taxes if Gavilan would put a smaller-sized bond to voters, such as $70 million. The $155 million bond is the maximum amount community colleges can request under Proposition 39.
Overall, the survey showed that voters overwhelmingly support the job Gavilan College is doing. In a ratio of 3-to-1, those surveyed felt Gavilan College is doing a good job in general in what Hathaway called a “job ratiing” that wasn’t broken down into particulars.
“I knew that community support is very strong. It was good to see the numbers as high as they were. So in that regard, it’s very encouraging,” Gavilan President Steve Kinsella said. “I think it is also an affirmation that the college has been providing a very valuable service to the community.”
The poll performed by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates was an approximately 20-minute phone survey of 400 registered voters throughout the Gavilan College district from June 19-23.
Trustees will take the survey data – as well as suggestions provided by a community advisory group to be made up of 30 to 40 community members – into consideration when deciding whether or not to put a bond measure on the March 2004 ballot.
“We’re reaching out really and trying to get some direct input from some key members of the community so that we can get their advice, their impressions and, really, basically what they think. What do they want the board to know, me to know specifically,” Kinsella said.
The advisory group will meet during August and September, Kinsella said. Then, the college will conduct public hearings Hollister, Gilroy and Morgan Hill. By December, the board hopes to make its decision on whether to proceed with the bond measure.
Meanwhile, not much is known as to the exact ballot language or how the money raised would be put to use. Hathaway read from a sample ballot including some tentative ideas of what projects would be funded by the bond measure. These needs included fire safety improvements and upgrades to ventilation, plumbing and sewer systems.
“Having heard that language, we get a very good, strong start of initial support for your bond measure,” she said.
Thirty percent of voters opposed the bond. When paired with a statewide education bond also to be placed on the ballot in March 2004, voter support dropped by 7 percent. More people supported the local bond than the statewide bond.
“Voters want the money (spent) locally,” Hathaway said.
For the Lew Edwards Group, Gavilan’s campaign adviser, the survey data shows that support is strong but could be even stronger.
“There’s some wonderful potential from the standpoint of your public,” said Catherine Lew, the firm’s lead consultant for Gavilan. “They do need a little bit more education and information about what exactly your needs are. So over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be working hard to determine the best way to educate your public, to sharpen their pencils and make sure that we put together a fiscallyresponsible plan.”
On the main campus in Gilroy, voters said they would support a variety of facility upgrades and expansion projects. However, in Hollister and Morgan Hill, voters are looking more to increase the facilities.
“Here, specifically voters want bread and butter, structural repairs,” Hathaway said, referring to the main campus.
The poor economy may actually work in Gavilan’s favor, since the majority of voters polled viewed community colleges as critical in these belt-tightening times to giving people the necessary job skills.
