How Connect NC bond money can be spent and who decides on what it will be spent drew state and local community college officials to Beaufort County’s Board of Commissioners meeting Monday.

Beaufort County Community College was awarded $6.5 million of the $2 billion Connect NC bond passed by referendum during the March 15 primary, leading commissioners to substantially reduce county funding for BCCC’s capital outlay (new construction, repairs and renovations) in the 2016-17 budget.

The commissioners’ decision to cut capital outlay from the requested $723,000 to $140,000 drew criticism from BCCC stakeholders, and a response suggesting that the college was prohibited from using Connect NC bond money to fill the funding gap and was instead required to use it for prioritized projects submitted in the application process. In BCCC’s case, the bulk of the $6.5 million is slated for a public safety training center for first responders.

On Monday, Jennifer Haygood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of North Carolina Community College System, and Scott Shook, chairman of the State Board of Community Colleges, appeared before commissioners to set the record straight as to how the money could be used.

Haygood first described to commissioners how representatives from the community college system had to actively lobby legislators to include community colleges in the bond. She said the primary response from legislators was they believed counties alone should be responsible for the funding needs of community colleges, and that ultimate inclusion in the bond represented a victory.

“I think the General Assembly truly believe what they would be providing (to community colleges) is supplemental,” Haygood said. “We are hoping, quite frankly, that colleges will be able to use the money for those projects that were prioritized.”

She said it wasn’t a requirement that community colleges strictly adhere to prioritized projects, but the state board, which is responsible for approving projects, is looking for a balance of new construction projects such as BCCC’s public safety facility and repairs/renovations.

Commissioner Hood Richardson questioned whether the county had to match funds to receive Connect NC bond money, as required by state law. For new construction at community colleges, North Carolina statute requires counties to match bond funds to varying degrees. In a Tier 1 county such as Beaufort County, every $3 of state money must be matched by $1 of county money. However, counties can draw on what’s called an “overmatch credit,” which is a virtual total of county money previously spent on capital construction/land acquisition, but has not been previously used to match bond funds. Beaufort County Community College currently has $10 million in overmatch funds, meaning the county has spent $10 million in construction and land acquisition for BCCC, but the $10 million has not been used to match bond funds.

“One of the reasons they have a $10 million surplus (in overmatch credit), while the college has done a great job using the money over the years … we have reached the point — quite frankly, Dr. Tansey’s going to kill me for saying this — we’re overfunding them,” Richardson said.

Richardson clarified that the county would be responsible for providing maintenance for the new public safety facility, which would consist of a 500-foot-by-600-foot driving pad, a 1,000-foot paved strip, and a newly constructed building to house two classrooms, shower facilities and a garage for an ambulance donated to the program.

Commissioner Robert Belcher pointed out that decreased enrollment has given BCCC more classroom space that can be used for first responders training, and suggested the project be scaled down.

“We’re building these classrooms so they’re convenient to the driving tracks. You can walk anywhere on the campus. It just doesn’t make sense to me. … It doesn’t wash with me,” Belcher said.

“Why spend 77 percent of bond money in one project?” asked Commissioner Frankie Waters. “It makes more sense to be able to use that money to make repairs. I guess what I would challenge to the (BCCC) Board of Trustees: can we utilize the money for repairs?”

Waters suggested the college consider a USDA loan to pay for the public safety center and use some of the Connect NC bond money for repairs included in the requested capital outlay budget, but were not funded in the approved county budget.

Haygood said the primary requirement for Connect NC project approval is that any project must benefit students and/or curriculum.

“I was a school principal for 21 years, and every time I could stop a roof from leaking on the those children was an improvement in curriculum,” Belcher said.

This month, the State Board of Community Colleges approved using Connect NC bond money for roof replacement projects at Bladen and Mayland community colleges.

Laura Staton, chairperson of BCCC Board of Trustees, told commissioners BCCC is trying to modernize and increase enrollment with the new public safety facility.

“This state of the art facility that we want at the community college will make us relevant,” Staton said.

Haygood called Connect NC bond money a “once in a couple of decades” opportunity for community colleges to make a substantial investment and urged commissioners to continue the conversation about repairs/renovations versus new construction. She also had some words of advice: “If what we see is the county abdicate funding on maintenance, and all the Connect NC money was used for that, the state board would have a problem with it.”