By a vote of 4-1, the New Hanover County commissioners Tuesday morning authorized the issuance of $40 million in general obligation bonds to pay for construction of a new Advanced and Emerging Technologies facility at Cape Fear Community College’s North Campus and renovation of four existing instructional buildings at its Downtown Campus.

Commissioner Woody White was the single dissenting vote.
 
The bonds represent the balance of a $164 million bond issue approved in 2008 by 62 percent of county voters to upgrade the college’s facilities. Thus far, $124 million of the total has supported construction and furnishing of CFCC’s Union Station building, which houses health science classrooms as well as administration offices and meeting facilities, plus the Humanities and Fine Arts instructional space and 1,500-seat auditorium. The college’s newest parking deck was part of the Union Station construction package as well.
 
Tuesday morning’s renewed discussion of the bonds followed a report from county staff on New Hanover County’s audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2014. Audit manager Erica Brown, from the CPA firm of Martin-Starnes, presented the audit highlights and said that the audit was a “clean” one, meaning that the county’s finances are in healthy shape and that fund balances had increased slightly.
 
During the subsequent bond discussion, commissioner Rob Zapple and board chairman Jonathan Barfield were clear in their endorsement of issuing the remaining bonds. Commissioner Skip Watkins referred to concerns he had expressed about the county’s growing debt load during a discussion of the matter at the commissioners’ Jan. 5 meeting.
 
“Even though people did vote for the bonds, there seems to be a disconnect,” he said, pointing out that county residents may not be looking at the true financial impact on the county of paying off those bonds.
 
“We must do everything we can to make sure New Hanover County is open for business,” he concluded.
 
Watkins, however, ultimately voted in favor of the bond issue.
 
For commissioner Beth Dawson, the question came down to the county’s ability to pay off the bonds while remaining within its agreed-upon debt ratio principles. She questioned New Hanover County finance director Lisa Wurtzbacher about what would happen if – as has been estimated – the real cost of the projects came in at less than $40 million.
 
“Any leftover money would go to pay down the debt,” Wurtzbacher replied.
 
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Dawson said.
 
Later in the discussion, Dawson asked Wurtzbacher how much the county would expect to pay on its debt in the next two to three years.
 
Typically the county pays down an average of $30 million on the principal every year, Wurtzbacher answered, adding, “Our annual audit shows we are within our dept capacity.”
 
Dawson said she regards the bond issuance as a three-legged stool, and wants to make sure that the three legs are balanced. She described the first two legs as being the will of the voters who passed the referendum, and the need of the community college for program space.
 
“And the third, which I am convinced is balanced, is the ability of the county to pay. We just heard a positive audit report . . . We’re above budget in revenue and I do not have any doubt that, even with issuing this bond debt, we are still going to be within our debt policies and percentages and remain a responsible steward of the taxpayers’ money.”

In explaining his opposition to the measure, White reiterated his concerns about the method used by CFCC to calculate its enrollment increases over the past seven years resulting, he said, in an inflated picture of growth.
 
White, who sits on the college’s board, also warned about the growth of the county’s debt over the past 20 years, saying that since 1994 it has grown 700 percent, while the county’s population has grown only 61 percent. He expressed a concern also on what he termed “lack of oversight” as to how the bond funds have been spent to date, saying that some of the previous bond money has been spent by CFCC on “lavish and extravagant buildings that lack adequate classroom space or student use.”
 
Within the context of a new facilities master plan for which the college has requested $100,000, White said CFCC needs to “go back to the drawing board” to look at its real needs “to put people in buildings to learn. You don’t need fancy buildings to do that,” he said.
 
“We have serviced the needs of this growing economy up until today without this space, and we will continue to do that,” he said.

Last week, CFCC president Ted Spring said renovation and construction stemming from the bond issue will address current demand for and future growth of tech programs.