Sauk submits renovation project for state funding

DIXON – Sauk Valley Community College submitted a $3 million renovation project to the state for funding, and officials hope they’ll have better luck than previous years.

Every year, community colleges submit capital projects to the Illinois Community College Board for the Resource Allocation and Management Plan, or RAMP, list.

Sauk’s requested project for fiscal year 2021 is to renovate the English and humanities classrooms and offices on the second floor at the west end of the building with work including constructing drop ceilings and modernizing the lighting, paneling and flooring.

The Sauk Board signed off earlier this week on submitting paperwork for the project, which would require a 25 percent local match of about $753,000.

The problem is that the program is a “bit of a Springfield game” driven by politics and has been underfunded for years, Sauk President Dave Hellmich said.

The college’s previous main project was to remodel the science labs for around $4 million, and it sat on the list for more than a decade before Sauk officials decided to stop waiting and do it themselves.

The state’s $41.5 billion Rebuild Illinois capital bill, the first since the $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now bill from 2009, includes nearly $282 million to cover bigger projects and deferred maintenance at community colleges, but Sauk wasn’t included on the list.