Will Los Rios colleges put $1.1B bond on fall ballot? Board votes Wednesday
This November, voters in Sacramento and Yolo counties may be asked to approve a $1.1 billion bond for facility upgrades at the Los Rios Community College District’s four colleges.
The district — which last passed a bond measure for construction and modernization projects in 2008 — identified facilities needs worth $3.1 billion in a recent assessment. That includes replacing leaky roofs, building new STEM and fine arts buildings, and modernizing classrooms. The bond will allow the district to finance these projects by borrowing money that will be repaid by local property owners through a hike in property taxes over several years.
At a meeting Wednesday evening, the board of trustees will decide whether to put the staff-recommended bond measure on the ballot. To make it to the November election, the measure must be backed by two-thirds of the board — meaning five of seven trustees. If that goes through, the measure will need 55% of voters on its side to pass in November.
One of the trustees, Robert Jones, has already said he opposes the proposed measure. Specially, he alleges the district is excluding voters in El Dorado, Placer and Solano counties who previously did not vote in favor of a bond measure.
The Los Rios district serves major chunks of Sacramento, El Dorado and Yolo counties and small parts of Placer and Solano counties. In April, the district created a subterritory with only portions of Sacramento and Yolo counties. The bond measure, if greenlit, will only take place in this part of the district. The proposed bond proceeds will benefit facilities in the subterritory and only property owners within it will see a hike in their taxes.
“Los Rios is poised to endorse a willful deprivation and nullification of the voting rights of its district residents,” Jones told The Sacramento Bee. “This is a catastrophic decision which is fundamentally inconsistent with the district’s values.”
Compromised voting rights?
At an April meeting, the board voted to form the subterritory within its boundaries for the bond election, per a provision in the California Education Code. While Jones and fellow trustee John Knight voted against it, four voted in favor and one board member was absent.
District staff argue that the facilities in Sacramento and Yolo counties are in greatest need of improvements and the subterritory seeks to address those. However, Jones said it was a “mechanism to eliminate voters who might not agree with the district’s ideas about a bond measure.”
All four Los Rios college campuses are in Sacramento County and the district has never before created a subterritory for an election on a bond measure. The district also has six education centers, including one in the historically Republican stronghold of El Dorado County.
In 2020, Los Rios placed a $650 million bond on the ballot to fund facility improvements in the district. That measure was defeated; it fell just short of the required 55% of the vote. In Yolo County, nearly 70% of voters supported to the measure. In Sacramento County, where the vast majority of voters reside, 53% voted yes. In El Dorado County, on the other hand, only about a third of voters voted yes on the measure.
The last time the district successfully got a bond approved was in 2008. At that time, voters passed a $475 million bond called Measure M. It funded a new student center and fine arts and life sciences building at American River College, an architecture building and athletic fields at Cosumnes River College, a new gym at Folsom Lake College, and a modernization of the performing arts center at Sacramento City College, among other things.
Earlier, voters approved a $265 million bond for the district in 2002 which funded similar projects across all four campuses.
Proposed projects this year
In an extensive list, the district laid out the facilities projects that proceeds from the bond proposed this year may fund at each of its four colleges.
At American River College, this includes building new STEM, science and fine arts facilities. It also would fund repairs to old roofs, improvements to campus security infrastructure and furniture and fixture upgrades. It also includes the construction of a new building to replace Davies Hall as a hub for humanities instruction. Davies Hall closed suddenly in 2023 after state authorities concluded that it was vulnerable to damage in the event of an earthquake.
At Cosumnes River College, the project list includes constructing a new technology building and childcare center, expanding the stadium and building an affordable student housing project. For Folsom Lake College, the proposed bond proceeds would be spent on constructing a cultural center, expanding the athletic complex and improving outdoor spaces for learning.
At Sacramento City College, the proposed bond proceeds would be spent on constructing or renovating facilities for music, theater and physical fitness, among other things. The district offices may also receive upgrades under the proposed $1.1 billion bond.
It is estimated that the measure will annually add $16.55 per $100,000 of a property’s assessed value to local homeowners’ tax bill. The tax is expected to expire in 2051, with the total cost of repaying the debt, including interest, amounting to approximately $1.79 billion.
For the November election, the deadline to file board resolutions on a measure like this one with the county elections offices is Aug. 7. With the Los Rios board’s next meeting scheduled for Aug. 12, the trustees will have to approve the resolution Wednesday night — or call a special meeting — to get the $1.1 billion bond measure on the November ballot.
