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The need for regional college campuses in the growing communities of Maricopa and the Johnson Ranch/Santan area have the Pinal County Community College District asking voters to approve a $98.98 million bond in the Nov. 4 election.

The bond is a slimmed-down version of the $435 million bond voters rejected in 2005, seemingly because it was just too much to ask voters to approve, said Dennis Jenkins, president of Central Arizona College.

The master plan is still the same. However, the community college district will ask voters to approve the project in phases, Jenkins said.

If passed, the bond money will allow the college to acquire the land and build 100- to 200-acre campuses in Maricopa and the Santan area, and add classrooms and renovate several other campuses throughout Pinal County, including in Apache Junction, Winkelman and Coolidge, Jenkins said.

Pinal County has seen an 82 percent population growth from 2000 to 2007, with a 96 percent increase in school-age children, according to the college's statistics.

Central Arizona College plans to start offering classes in November in a leased 7,000-square-foot building in the Shops at Copper Basin strip mall on Hunt Highway about a mile south of the Johnson Ranch neighborhood. This was the second-highest populated region in Pinal County in 2007, with about 40,000 residents, Jenkins said.

The new campuses in Maricopa and the Johnson Ranch area are projected to handle 15,000 students, similar to what the Maricopa County Community Colleges are built for.

Central Arizona College, which has nine locations in Pinal County, offers more than 90 certificate and degree programs, more than 50 university transfer programs and has partnerships with the three state universities.

If the bond passes, the college will receive the money in July and start the three-year building plan.

"That's why we rented space (in the Johnson Ranch area) to start providing service, so when we do open in two to three years we would have ready-made students," Jenkins said.

The tax impact on a home valued by the county assessor at $250,000 is estimated to be $27.38 per year for 25 years, or a total of $684.50.

"We have reduced our operational tax rate for six years, and lowered the tax burden a lot more than we're asking to give back," Jenkins said. "The (Central Arizona College) board has been cognizant of the tax impact."

There has been no organized opposition to the bond, according to the Pinal County Elections Department.

A poll taken in April showed half of Pinal County residents had participated in some college event, and about 75 percent supported the bond, Jenkins said.

Bill Bridwell, a real estate agent who is co-chairman of the Educate Today/Excellence Tomorrow group in support of the bond, said ordinarily he doesn't agree with tax increases, but believes in what the college is doing.

"The college has not stopped growing in 25 years, but has sought other means to grow rather than getting it from the taxpayer's pocketbooks," he said. "Education is the future of Pinal County."