On April 5, Delta College announced a more affordable and effective plan to pay off the Measure L Bond taken out in early 2004.
The Measure L Bond was a way for Delta to obtain a loan sufficient enough to improve facilities at the main Stockton campus as well as the Mountain House location.
“In 2004 Delta asked all property owners for approval on a $250 million bond.
This is how colleges usually get money to improve facilities on campus.
We needed money so we had to go out to voters, and we wanted them to see the value in our students,” said Public Information Coordinator Alex Breitler.
San Joaquin County voters passed the measure with 57.7 percent of the vote.
The Measure L Bond brought improvements and renovations to campus.
It included the building of the DeRicco Student Services Center and the Science and Mathematics Center.
It also included the renovation of the Goleman Library and an expansion of the Shima building.
The renovations helped students by providing quality facilities that can ensure quality learning.
Money from the bond went to tasks as simple as repainting buildings or performing maintenance on the elevators to more complex tasks like building new state of the art buildings and fixing the pathways on campus to avoid any safety hazards.
“It helped students because by providing the best facilities they can take advantage of state of the art technology. DeRicco was a way to centralize all the student information, so students don’t have to walk all around campus getting information,” said Breitler.
Fourteen years after the bond approval, Delta is now able to develop a quicker way to pay off the money, saving taxpayers $20 million in interest.
Instead of finishing payments in 2042, the Measure L Bond will give its last payment in 2039.
In the old plan the debt service would have cost $62 million, but with the new faster pay off the debt comes out to around $42 million.
“We want the people to know that we are trying to save their money, for example, paying off the loan earlier than expected,” said Breitler.
