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With list of funding needs, county officials prioritizing annex
The list of needed repairs grows longer.
The cost of materials only gets higher.
Wages aren’t keeping up with these higher prices.
A list of problems that sound too much like family finance in 2023 is actually the scenario facing Putnam County officials as they stare down needed upgrades in the community.
Problems with county bridges have been well documented in the last year, but county officials have also been talking about building a new county annex ever since the old annex building at Jones School was closed in 2011. In this situation, the Putnam County Courthouse, built in 1905, is also showing signs of age and needs to have some current offices moved to a different location.
Add to this a pending wage study that is sure to show the need for pay increases throughout county government, and there are simply more expenses than the county currently has income.
Into this tangled web, the county has invited municipal adviser Jason Semler of Baker Tilly to help navigate what comes next. During a special meeting of the Putnam County Council this week, Semler met not only with council members, but also commissioners Rick Woodall and Tom Helmer, as well as Auditor Kristina Berish.
At its regular October meeting, the council discussed the possibility of taking out bonds to pay for bridge repairs. Semler explained that this is not possible for counties.
State statute allows cities and towns to issue bonds for road and bridge work, but not counties. Instead, the county would have to take out traditional loans to pay for bridge work, but even these could not exceed $2 million in funding per bridge per year.
Currently, 63 of the 222 Putnam County bridges are in need of replacement, while 30 more need significant repairs. The most recent estimates for bridge work would entail $140 million to fund replacements and $40 million in repairs. However, some of these bridges are already in federal aid programs, which will reduce the local cost.
With County Engineer Jim Peck not in attendance, Woodall said there is a lot more information county leaders need in terms of prioritizing bridge work.
One avenue that still needs to be more fully explored is the possibility of increasing the wheel tax and vehicle surtax in the county, with the money going directly to funding bridges and roads.
A new annex, on the other hand, would qualify for a bond issuance. The most recent estimate put a new annex to meet the county’s needs at $12,255,000, with about $2 million saved.
“If we can’t afford to build a $10 million annex and can only afford a $6 million annex, there’s no reason to do it,” Woodall said.
Semler indicated such a move would be possible, but it would come with a property tax increase. Additionally, the bond issuance may not be fully funded by a property tax increase due to properties that have reached or will reach their maximum payments due to circuit breaker laws.
Woodall in particular also expressed misgivings over how an increase in the county’s portion of local property taxes would hurt local municipalities, schools and other taxing entities.
“Why should they have to pay because we need an annex?” he asked.
He was countered with the argument that when other entities such as schools take on large building projects, they don’t ask how it affects the county.
Ultimately, a majority of those in the meeting indicated their belief that an annex is a more pressing issue when it comes to outside funding.
“I think we can fix a lot of these bridges ourselves and save a lot of money,” Councilman Danny Wallace said.
Councilman Jay Alcorn cautioned that it is not an either/or situation.
“I think we’ve got to move sooner than later,” Alcorn said. “We can’t build the annex and then do bridges 12 years later.”
Council President Stephanie Campbell and Councilman Phil Gick nodded in agreement.
Although county officials are continuing to explore the matter, they are also cautious to simply raise taxes and are exploring all options as they move forward. Semler said it is presently too late to do a bond issuance by year’s end, but he will be back in the coming months to present further findings.
For now, the council is trying to balance the needs of the county with the finances of constituents.
“My gut says there’s a solution,” Gick said.