Higher education, infrastructure and National Guard – yes; cultural resources – not so much. That is the gist of priorities contained in the current version of the Senate's version of Connect NC Bond Act of 2015. That legislation, also known as House Bill 943, is scheduled for discussion Tuesday in the N.C. Senate Finance Committee.
As the legislature has worked over Gov. Pat McCrory’s proposed $2.85 billion Connect NC transportation and infrastructure bond in the past months, the proposal has shed considerable weight in terms of cost and the number of projects it would support.
The legislation currently under consideration in the Senate committee has pared the bond proposal to $2 billion. It would provide:
- $400 million for institutions within the N.C. Community Colleges system;
- $921.67 million to be allocated among 11 new construction projects for institutions within the UNC system;
- $100 million in grants and $350.6 million in low-interest loans to the Department of Environmental Quality for water and sewer improvements throughout the state;
- $100 million for a new lab for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services;
- $82.7 million for readiness centers, armory renovations and heli-pads for the National Guard; and
- $45 million for replacement of the Africa Pavilion of the North Carolina Zoo.
Local community college projects for which money is specifically allocated in the current bill are about $3.3 million for Brunswick Community College and more than $6.7 million to Cape Fear Community College for new construction, repairs and renovations. University of North Carolina Wilmington would receive about $67.3 million to construct a new nursing building for the university’s College of Health and Human Services.
Absent from the bill is funding for numerous cultural resources projects, including $11.5 million to build a new visitors center at the Battleship North Carolina; $35 million for roof, mechanical and electrical repairs at Fort Fisher as well as for other historic sites in the state; and $3.5 million for the design and installation of a shore protection system for Brunswick Town historic site’s riverfront.
Susan Kluttz, secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources,
came to the Cape Fear area in June to promote the bond issue and the cultural resources projects it contained at that point.
The funding decisions are far from over, however, officials at the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said Tuesday.
"The Senate has its version of the bill, and the House has its version," said department spokeswoman Cary Cox. Assuming the Senate passes its version of the bill, each chamber will appoint a committee to come to an agreement on the measure, and the funding results could be different, she added.
Cox also noted that both versions of the bond bill have left about $200 million in undesignated funds.
"That could very well go to Natural and Cultural Resources projects for parks, historic sites and aquariums," she said. "We are very hopeful that the Battleship and other projects will be in the final version of the bill."
If the Connect NC bill is approved by the legislature and signed by the governor, it would go to the voters next year. While the original plan was to put the measure on the November 2016 ballot, the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday recommended that it be moved earlier to the March 2016 primary to take advantage of lower interest rates in advance of a possible Federal Reserve hike, according to the News & Observer.
