A year and a half ago, voters in Umatilla and Morrow counties voted down a Blue Mountain Community College bond renewal measure that would have funded the construction of three ag-related learning centers in the two-county area.
Eighteen months later, BMCC is again asking voters to support a 15-year bond measure that would do much of what the previous bond would have done, but without some of the bells and whistles community members found unnecessary.
BMCC President Cam Preus gave an overview of the bond project at Tuesday’s meeting of the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce membership.
“Over the past year, the college has been listening to the community to find out why the previous bond failed,” Preus said. “We’ve gone back and responded to what the voters thought was the most important.”
The 2013 bond would have cost Umatilla County taxpayers 31 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. This year’s bond would cost taxpayers 25 cents per $1,000. With the median home value in Umatilla County at $145,000, the average homeowner would pay $36.25 per year if the bond passes. Among the items left off this time around include the construction of a new rodeo arena in Pendleton and renovations to the BMCC theater and pool.
What remains, however, are construction projects that aim to provide education and training for the new high-tech world of agriculture, such as a precision irrigated agriculture center in Hermiston, a workforce training and early learning center in Boardman, and a facility for agricultural resource management in Pendleton.
The bond would also upgrade the college’s decades-old electrical and air condition systems and expand its information technology.
In November 2013, voters in Pendleton and Morrow County supported the bond, but voters in Hermiston and Milton-Freewater rejected it. This year’s bond has been endorsed by both the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Hermiston City Council. The election take place on May 19.
For more information on the bond, visit the BMCC website.
