By Gerri Miller and Sarah Stephens
Elmore/Autauga News
It’s official. Central Alabama Community College (CACC) will have a permanent campus in Prattville.
The Prattville City Council and the Autauga County Commission approved a joint development agreement in their regular meetings Tuesday night that will fund $4 million for the project with millions more coming in continued support.
The City will fund $2.6 million and the County will pay $1.4 million initially with more coming later. The County will initially fund its portions from reserves and then provide 6.25 percent of the online sales taxes collected by the county on a renewable annual basis.
The City approved the $2.6 million one-time expenditure and a five-year allocation of 25 percent per year of one-cent sales tax funds.
The project is expected to cost about $13 million, with $4 million a year budgeted for operations.
CACC has a letter of intent to purchase the East Memorial Baptist Church campus, which includes 50,000 square feet of buildings and property on 125 acres in the 1300 block of Old Ridge Road. The property has been used as a church, the now-closed East Memorial Christian Academy (K-12) and a daycare.
CACC is set to open its new facilities in January 2022 once needed renovations are made to the facility.
“Today is a monumental day for our community,” said State Senator Clyde Chambliss. “Education is the key to our future and now we will have a community partner to help with training and workforce development for many years to come. Welcome to Prattville, Central Alabama Community College.”
Autauga County School Superintendent Timothy Tidmore called the project a game changer. He said the project will allow another outlet for students to have dual-enrollment agreements that might not be offered at the school system’s Technical Center.
A dual enrollment program means high school students can attend classes at CACC and get college credit. This can allow them to graduate from high school with a two-year associate science degree in hand.
He said the program will provide students the chance to learn the skills that are needed for an ever-changing work force. “It’s an economic win when CACC is here as it will impact sales and ad valorem taxes. It’s a game changer for the county as a whole.”
Jay Thompson, chairman of the Autauga County Commission, said the accomplishment is something that the community has been waiting for a long time and is much needed.
“The Commission is proud and honored to support Central Alabama Community College’s expansion in our community not only to our residents, but also throughout central Alabama,” Thompson said. “We look forward to working with the Autauga County Board of Education, City of Prattville, and Central Alabama Community College as we continue improving education opportunities in our region.”
At the Prattville City Council meeting, a large portion of the crowd was there to show support as the Council unanimously voted to accept the resolution related to funding for CACC. A thunderous round of applause occurred as the vote was made.
The Council amended the budget to make the funds possible. The resolution states that by helping to fund the CACC project, it will help attract economic development.
In the resolution Tuesday night it referred to actions taken by the council in 2018.
“WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Prattville works through and with the Prattville Economic Development Team to attract and retain educational and economic development; and WHEREAS, in Resolution Book 2018, Page 085, on June 19, 2018, the City Council authorized the Mayor to enter into a Joint Post-Secondary Education Development Agreement with the Autauga County Commission and Central Alabama Community College (CACC) to establish an education center within the Pratts Mill Shopping Center, which is located within the City/County;
“and WHEREAS, said development agreement provided that in the event that CACC determined that enrollment had reached a level to support the development of a stand-alone campus in the City/County service area, CACC would give sincere commercial and financial consideration to locating a new campus within the City/County;
“and WHEREAS, the Autauga County Commission, the City of Prattville and CACC have determined that circumstances and conditions warrant said stakeholders to consider jointly developing a stand-alone permanent campus in the City/County service area;
“and WHEREAS, the City Council desires to provide certain economic support and incentives to assist with the acquisition of property commonly known as ‘East Memorial Baptist Church’ located in the City of Prattville and develop a stand-alone permanent campus for CACC.”
The breakdown of Prattville’s contribution and how the budget is amended is as follows:
Decrease General Fund/ Economic Development Reserves $140,000
Decrease General Fund/ Departmental Reserves FY $1,000,000
Decrease General Fund/ Public Facilities –One Cent Reserves$1,225,100.0060
Increase General Fund/ Transfer to Capital Projects Fund $2,365,100.001
Increase Capital Projects Fund/ Transfer from General Fund $2,365,100.002
Decrease Capital Projects Fund/ Park Proceeds Reserves $234,900
Increase Capital Projects Fund/ Economic Development $2,600,000
Decrease General Fund/ Education –One Cent Reserves$309,391
Increase General Fund Debt Service/ CACC $309,391
$2,600,000 is approved and appropriated to be paid to Central Alabama Community College (CACC) as outlined in said campus development agreement, and said funds are approved and appropriated from the FY2022 Budget Line Item Capital Projects Fund/ Economic Development.
City Council approves to annually allocate twenty-five percent (25%) of the Local Education One Cent funds for a period not to exceed five years to CACC to be used for operation and maintenance of the stand-alone permanent campus, with said funds commencing on January 1, 2022, and payable on a quarterly basis.
Annually allocated Local Education One Cent funds are approved and appropriated from the FY2022 Budget Line Item General Fund Debt Service/ CACC.
Forty additional employees will be hired with the campus move and future enrollment is expected to be around 3,500 students. The home campus will remain in Alexander City. The college has satellite campuses in Talladega, Childersburg, and Prattville and total enrollment of all four is currently about 1,600.
About 200 students reportedly attend classes at CACC’s facility in the Pratt’s Mill Shopping Center on Fairview Avenue. CACC officials believe that number has the potential to jump to over 3,000 with a new, permanent campus in Autauga County.
