By Derek Hanley
For the last ten years, SBCC has been an institution in decline. The 75 acre campus on some of the most valuable land in Santa Barbara is not fully used and no longer justifies the very large costs of maintenance.
The number of students at SBCC has declined from 19,331 to 12,675.
Of the 12,675 students, over 4,199 exclusively study 100% on-line.
Of the remaining students, 4,900 study partially on-line and partially in classrooms on Campus.
Clearly, this 75 acre campus is underutilized.
SBCC has been driven to rent classrooms to a "For Profit" private university.
The SBCC budget is $224,347,416, almost a quarter of a Billion dollars a year.
Measure P seeks to add until 2060 almost half a billion dollars in principal and interest debt to the annual budget of $224M and to the existing Bond payable to 2033. Follow the money. Who gains if P is passed? Who loses?
The two most knowledgeable and experienced Trustees of financial matters in SBCC voted "No" on Measure P.
We the public and we the taxpayers must vote "No" on measure P. To do otherwise is foolish.
A deep investigation into SBCC, by an independent party, must be implemented into the deep and troubling questions raised by yet another very costly bond request that cumulatively, Taxpayers will pay for into 2060. And, the long-term viability of SBCC under current and future conditions, including the very high expenditures spent on salaries and retirement benefits and the current and future need and costs of maintenance for the 75 acre campus
We, the public and the taxpayers, Must Vote "No" on Measure P . To do otherwise, would be a foolish waste of enormous funds until we look behind the curtains to understand the true state of affairs causing the inexhaustible demands for money by SBCC.
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