Northwest College President Stefani Hicswa went before the Joint Appropriations Committee on Dec. 20 to ask state lawmakers to provide half the funding for a new student center.

The current DeWitt Student Center was built in 1966 and was expected to last 50 years, Hicswa told committee members. The facility is beyond its life, she said, and is in dire need of replacement. Its foundation is “crumbling,” and the roof is leaking, Hicswa said, adding that the building has a “groundwater issue,” sewer seepage and HVAC problems.

“I’m just one disaster away from not having anywhere to feed my students,” Hicswa said. “It’s a health and safety issue, and if something happens, it will shut down the facility.”

The Joint Appropriations Committee did not take immediate action on the funding request for NWC; the panel is set to make its budget recommendations in mid-January.

In his budget proposal released in November, Gov. Mark Gordon recommended about $10.2 million in state funding for a roughly $20.4 million new student center at NWC. If the Legislature approves the governor’s recommended appropriation in its 2020 Budget Session, the other half of the funding for the project would need to come from local sources.

According to Carey Miller, communications and marketing director for NWC, the local efforts will include a fundraising campaign through the Northwest College Foundation. Hicswa has also indicated that the college will likely seek a 1 percent specific purpose sales tax in Park County in order to raise the full $10 million needed to complete the project.

Last year, the state provided funding for a Level II feasibility study for both the proposed student center and a visual and a new
performing arts center. College leaders decided to move forward only with the new student center, which is being dubbed Trapper Center. 

Hicswa told lawmakers that they examined the possibility of remodeling the aging DeWitt Student Center and found that, over time, it would be more cost effective to replace the building. She said the college would see considerable savings on operations and maintenance in the future with a new facility from what maintaining the current facility costs.

Hicswa also told the committee that the current student center was contributing to the NWC’s declining enrollment. Hicswa cited a study that found 83 percent of students pick colleges based on the condition of their facilities.

According to the Wyoming Community College Commission, most community colleges in the state have seen declining enrollments in the past decade. Headcount totals at NWC fell nearly 23 percent between the fall of 2013 and the fall of 2018 — the largest drop among the state’s seven community colleges. Preliminary figures from this past fall showed NWC enrollment falling another 4 percent from 2018, hitting a 25-year low.

If the state provides the $10.2 million for the new student center, Hicswa told the committee it will be the first time since 2012 that NWC has received state construction funding for any facility on campus. That year, the college received funding for construction of the Yellowstone Building.

Should the Legislature approve the requested dollars for the new student center and the college pursues a specific purpose tax, it would require a resolution from both the Park County Commission and two of the three municipal governing bodies (Powell, Cody and Meeteetse) before being sent to county voters. The measure could also get on the ballot with a petition signed by at least 5 percent of county voters.

A 4 percent sales tax is assessed in every county in the state. Local governments can then ask voters for another 1 percent tax to be used for general purposes and/or 1 percent for specific purposes.

Park and Sublette counties are the only two of Wyoming’s 23 counties that don’t have a general purpose tax. However, Park County commissioners recently discussed the possibility of pursuing one to address the county’s budgetary shortfalls.

While NWC’s student center project wasn’t directly mentioned, one of the concerns that came up during the commission’s Dec. 17 discussion was how a 1 percent specific purpose tax might impact voters’ willingness to support a 1 percent general purpose tax.

“If we are going to pursue the fifth cent, we’re going to have to have a real heavy discussion with the municipalities and others about what we would normally call a fifth cent, which would be a sixth cent, and those projects that are normally being done under that format,” said Commissioner Dossie Overfield. “Because I’m not sure you’re going to go to the voters with both of them.”

As for the state funding, the Joint Appropriations Committee is set to work on state budgets from Jan. 14-17. The full Legislature will have the final say on the dollars for Trapper Center when it convenes for the Budget Session on Feb. 10.