PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Portland Community College will ask voters in five counties to approve a $374 million bond measure to construct and renovate buildings on four campuses.
     
The measure, the largest education property tax request in Oregon history, will appear on the fall ballot. If approved, the measure would increase taxes by 35.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. That would be about $89 a year on a $250,000 home.
     
Expansions funded by the measure would focus on high-demand areas such as health, welding and online education. Dana Haynes, a PCC spokesman, said the college has long waiting lists for some classes such as education, nursing and welding.
     
"We have 800 applicants for nursing, and we can serve only 100," he said told The Oregonian newspaper. "We can't even serve the work force today. ... Employers say they are importing welders from the Gulf Coast because we can't train them fast enough."
     
The college, which has 86,000 students, will ask voters for money at a time when the economy is slumping and other local governments may also be seeking dollars.
     
What's more, property owners in Multnomah, Washington, Columbia, Yamhill and portions of Clackamas counties are paying for a $144 million bond measure from 2000 that will not be paid off until 2018.
     
But college leaders say they must prepare for the growing demands for technical and professional education as more people flock into the Portland metropolitan area.
     
PCC's Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday night to put the tax request on the November ballot.
     
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)