State Senate OKs bill to fund capital improvements at Del Tech

A bill giving Delaware Technical Community College up to $50 million for capital improvements over the next five years awaits action in the House after receiving nearly unanimous approval in the Senate.

Senate Bill 50, approved with Senate Substitute 2, would pledge to allocate at least $10 million a year in capital funding to the school each of the next five years through the annual Bond and Capital Improvements Act. The bill follows another Delaware Tech funding bill proposed during the current session that would have allowed the community college to raise property taxes for capital improvements. Delaware Tech officials said that buildings needed more than $100 million to repair leaky roofs, renovate HVAC systems and make other repairs – maintenance that has been deferred over the years.

After opposition to the property tax plan, however, bill sponsor Sen. Harris McDowell, D-Wilmington, pulled the bill. His latest bill passed the Senate 19-1 with one not voting.

“Delaware Tech is the most affordable path our young people have to earn a degree,” he said in a press release. “But after years of not getting the funding they need, many of the college’s buildings and classrooms are reaching levels of disrepair that are taking them out of use,” McDowell said.

In addition to $10 million annually for five years, SB 50 gives Delawarel Tech the ability to finance future projects though a bond sale, if a dedicated funding stream to finance that debt is identified.

“This is not the full solution we had hoped for at the start of the year, but it does provide us some certainty and allow us to plan for dealing with these structural issues in a thoughtful, rational way,” said Delaware Tech President Mark Brainard in a press release. “We are grateful to Sen. McDowell and Rep. Ed Osienski for working so hard to get us to this point.”

The bill now heads to the House for approval.