NORMAL - Heartland Community College's business chief said the board's approval of the annual tax levy should allow the district to meet its fiscal 2009 budget needs when combined with state aid, tuition and other revenue.

The board approved an $11 million levy recommended by Rob Widmer, vice president of business and finance. If property values in the district grew about 6 percent as projected, the tax rate will be 44 cents per $100 equalized assessed valuation.

That tax rate, a 3.6 cent increase, would cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $296 in taxes paid in 2008 for the 2007 levy. That's about $12 more than that homeowner would have paid in 2007 for the 2006 levy.

In other action Tuesday, the board also OK'd plans to spend about $35,000 for upgrading security features on its Normal campus.

More than a dozen new security cameras will be installed on campus, and nearly 100 door locks will be reconfigured.

Methodist College of Nursing also became the second institution to create formal transition agreements with Heartland's registered nursing program. A cooperative agreement already is in place with Danville-area Lakeview College of Nursing.

After the meeting, Catherine Miller, who heads Heartland's nursing program, noted that many Heartland nursing graduates also transfer to bachelor's of science in nursing programs at Illinois State University's Mennonite College of Nursing and the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville program based in Springfield.

"Although there is no formal agreement with those universities, course work needed for our students to transfer into those schools' programs is well-outlined, and we work very cooperatively with them," she said.

Widmer discussed the bid process for the estimated $60 million Phase II construction project. The multifaceted construction plan, approved in March and expected to be complete in 2010, will nearly double the Normal campus, adding six buildings and an athletic field area.

Bid documents have been prepared for all but the sports arm of the project, and bids will be accepted through Jan. 10, he said. Heartland administrators hope to recommend a general contractor to the board during its Jan. 15 meeting.

Widmer also noted a renovation of the Community Commons Building's second-floor administrative area is complete. The changes reconfigured some meeting spaces to allow for more offices.