Amid the buzz of students scrambling to class with books and backpacks, a different kind of noise can faintly be heard among the members of the Madison Area Technical College Board: The possibility of a $133 million expansion resolution.

Despite the steep cost of the plan, Madison College President Bettsey Barhorst said in a statement it is in the best interest of the students and the community to pursue redevelopment.

“We’re responding to the unique and immediate needs of displaced workers and we need to provide the space and updated facilities at all of our campuses across the district that will serve our community for the next century,” Barhorst said in the statement. “It’s really important that we’re able to meet the needs of our students.”

The redevelopment seeks to build a new Health Services Education Center, Advanced Green Manufacturing Center and a Protective Services Education Center.

The money is also allotted for renovations and upgrades throughout the campuses within Madison College’s 12 county district.

Roger Price, vice president of Infrastructure Services at Madison College, said he believes investing in the expansion plan is an investment for the future. He said University of Wisconsin students should want to vote for the referendum in November because they recognize precisely how important education is at all levels.

“Because we are serving 22 percent more students in the past five years, we have been brought to the point where we are asking the community for this investment to provide the same services for the next decade,” Price said.

The referendum is scheduled for Nov. 2. All counties within Madison College’s 12 county district will vote for or against a tax increase to fund the expansion.

The impact the expansion will have on individual taxpayers is mainly targeted at Madison homeowners, in which an average home priced at $245,000 will be taxed approximately $33.10 per year.

However, even with this new debt Madison College would still have the lowest of the 16 Wisconsin technical colleges’ debt, a fiscal statement from Madison College said.

During the past five years, Madison College prepared a Facilities Master Plan to determine what academic plan and facilities would be necessary in order to continue to expand over the next 10 to 15 years.

Although the plan originally totaled $380 million, the scope was diminished out of concern for taxpayers.

In a statement, Madison College District Board Chair Jon Bales accepted the difficult position the original cost would have proposed to Madison’s taxpayers.

“The Board did its due diligence to balance the clear needs the community had with its ability to afford these needs,” Bales said.

Price said because the city has a larger tax base, the impact of the new budget on individual taxpayers would not be as great in comparison to other referendums.

He added UW students have historically taken interest in educational reform, which would likely give them motivation to vote.