Most of the half-million dollars financing the campaign for Palomar College's $694 million bond measure, Proposition M, is coming from Palomar College.
The college's nonprofit foundation has given the largest amount so far, $232,000, to bankroll the Nov. 7 ballot initiative. The measure aims to expand and renovate the 60-year-old college, which educates 30,000 students but wants to grow to handle 20,000 more.
While scores of teachers, area residents and Palomar employees have donated, the building and investment industries have been active, too. They account for more than $150,000 in donations, according to the most recent campaign disclosure forms.
Another of the top donors, at $49,900, has been Passerelle LLC, a land development partnership whose building plans for the Fallbrook area would be boosted by the proposed satellite Palomar campus there.
Bonnie Anne Dowd, Palomar's assistant superintendent and vice president, said the college has been getting calls constantly from all kinds of businesses both locally and nationally wanting to find out how they can bid on some of the massive building projects planned, should the bond pass.
“Nobody's been promised anything,” Dowd said.
She said the college's lists are merely to alert prospective contractors that Palomar might be requesting bids for certain work.
The Yes on M committee has collected $517,200 in cash and in-kind donations, according to forms filed with the San Diego County Registrar of Voters as of Tuesday.
Proposition M needs 55 percent voter approval to pass. The district is home to more than 700,000 people and stretches from Borrego to Camp Pendleton Marine base, and from the Riverside County line to Rancho Peñasquitos. It is larger than the state of Delaware and serves nearly 24 percent of the county.
The Palomar College Foundation has donated to the Yes on M campaign over the past year without using any money set aside for scholarships, foundation director Renie Colwell said.
The foundation exists to support the college in many ways, said Colwell. “We were looking at the big picture. Palomar will benefit from more students and better facilities.”
No official campaign has organized against the bond. An anti-tax group, San Diego Tax Fighters, financed an opposition statement appearing on the ballot, similar to statements it has filed against other education bonds. However, the measure has been officially endorsed by a different group, the San Diego Tax Payers Association.
The college district has held nearly a dozen bond elections since the 1940s, but most have failed. Officials basically stopped asking voters for extra support after the mid-1960s. Palomar's current bond measure proposes adding as many as eight major buildings, including a library on the main campus, plus upgrading the college's Escondido center located in a strip mall.
To pay for the overhaul, Palomar would temporarily raise property taxes $14.72 a year for every $100,000 of assessed valued.
Other large contributors to the bond campaign are RBC Dain Rauscher of Minnesota, UBS Securities LLC of Connecticut, and Erickson-Hall Construction Co. of Escondido, each with $25,000.
Other major contributors are Associated General Contractors Political Action Committee, Douglas E. Barnhart builder and Gilbane Building Co. of Phoenix, each with $20,000.
The college's proposed 80-acre Fallbrook campus site would be close to about 500 acres owned by Passerelle LLC. The partnership proposes building about 1,300 homes and a small shopping center on the land. A developer's spokesman said if the measure fails, the company will build a 1.2-million-square-foot office park instead.
Lisa Petrillo: (760) 737-7563; lisa.petrillo@uniontrib.com
