By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Gold ceremonial shovels went into the ground Tuesday afternoon at Barton
Community College for the construction of the college’s new Agriculture and
Transportation Complex. The future site of the $3.6 million complex, on the
east side of campus, will house a Case New Holland Top Tech training program to
train ag mechanic technicians to enter the workforce.
Barton already has a Case New Holland program, but Barton Foundation Director
Lindsey Bogner said the new facility will be designed for a different training.
"Our current Case program trains service technicians from dealerships across the United States and internationally," said Bogner. "Those are for technicians already working in dealerships, so it's continuing education for them. The new Top Tech program will train new service technicians to go into the field. We will be putting technicians into dealerships and meeting that need for ag mechanics in our area."
The facility will include classrooms, shop spaces, CDL vehicle and equipment
storage, corrals, instructor offices, loading docks and a CDL testing area.
Receiving a $1.8 million matching grant, Bogner and the college are in charge
of fundraising the other half of the project. On Tuesday, Bogner said the
college has collected $561,000, about 30% of their goal.
"We have to have the rest of the money matched by next June," said Bogner. "We're still working on that. Right now we're working on major gifts and our tax credit sales. We're trying to get to everybody that we know is interested, which is a lot of people. This is impacting a lot of different industries. We're getting there."
The State of Kansas approved $5 million in tax credits to be split among
community and technical colleges across the state. Boger said these are 60% tax
credits, meaning if an individual or business donates $1,000, you get a $600 credit
on your state taxes.