Brown County property taxpayers likely will start paying for a series of new projects next year once they pay off an older loan for road work.
The Brown County Council voted last week to pursue taking out a new, $2 million bond. The final vote will occur at the Monday, July 16 meeting.
The plan is to use that money to pay for a new communications tower and radios for emergency personnel; replace light poles at Deer Run Park and bleachers at the Brown County Fairgrounds; expand the parking lot at Veterans Hall; restore the bell tower, repair bricks and add security at the courthouse; install security measures at the Emergency Management Agency office; build a new ramp and porch and replace the siding at the Sycamore Valley Senior Center; and do various building improvements at the highway department.
That still would leave about $470,000 to do road work, according to estimates given at the June 6 county commissioners meeting. However, project costs won’t be certain until bids are accepted. The county has to bid out all projects estimated at over $50,000.
Council members voted to borrow $2 million instead of the $3 million the Brown County Commissioners had asked for because they wanted to keep tax rates as consistent as possible; also, the extra million was envisioned for justice center or courthouse work, and there is no solid plan on what will be done with that project yet.
Estimates from financial adviser H.J. Umbaugh & Associates were that a $2 million bond, paid off over three years, would cost taxpayers about an extra 70 cents per year on a property with a gross assessed value of $100,000, after a homestead exemption and other common deductions. A $2 million loan for road work is scheduled to be paid off in 2019, and county leaders’ intent was to replace that loan payment with these bond payments and keep the tax rate steady.
“I’m for not raising taxes, getting done what we need to get done … and any money left in (the) capital improvement (fund) I’m going to push for roads,” said council President Keith Baker.
Getting this bond will allow the county to use money from its economic development or highway funds for other purposes, like paving, instead of spending it on the projects listed above, said Jason Semler from Umbaugh.
The council could have chosen to pay off the $2 million over four years instead of three, which would have made taxes lower than what they are now. However, that would have cost the county about $22,000 more in interest than what it will pay for a three-year bond, Semler said.
The county also could have paid the bond off in two years instead of three to spend even less in interest, but that would have caused a bump in taxes, Semler said.
Resident Sherrie Mitchell challenged the council on the actual tax impact of this bond. If the council paid off the debt it already has, cut back spending, budgeted for maintenance and started “living within our budget,” taxpayers would pay much less in taxes than they do now, she said.
Baker and county commissioner Diana Biddle said that some maintenance work has already been deferred for years, and it has to be done sometime. Baker added that the state only allows the county to levy so much in taxes and what it gets “barely meets requirements,” which makes it difficult to budget for maintenance.
Resident Tim Clark thanked the council for approving the $2 million bond instead of the $3 million bond. He questioned why the county would have to pay so much in fees. Umbaugh’s estimate sheet has $125,000 going toward “bond issuance costs and contingencies,” which leaves about $1.875 million for the county to actually spend on projects.
Council member Darren Byrd said that’s a common practice, “like closing fees.”
Still funding the fair?
Resident Michael Fulton read from a Sept. 28, 2016 Brown County Democrat story, in which then-council President David Critser said that the county would no longer financially support the Brown County Fair after 2017 because it needed to stand on its own.
Fulton’s comment referred to the $100,000 or so the county may spend to replace the grandstand bleachers with this new bond money.
From 2013 to 2018, the county was spending $178,000 to support the fair and 4-H Council, and to pay back a $500,000 bond which the county took out to build new buildings, renovate old ones and do other work on the fairgrounds.
Fulton pointed out that the county still has $48,000 budgeted to support the fair in 2018, not counting the bleacher money.
“Times change,” said Critser, who is now the council vice president. “They pretty near flat-out told me that if we don’t help them, the 4-H fair was gone. I think the 4-H fair is very important to Brown County, and so I had to change my mind or we have no fair,” he said.
Baker, who was on the fair board in 2011, said that at the time the county was funding new buildings at the fairgrounds, he doesn’t believe fair leaders realized that the bleachers were in such bad shape.
Fulton asked the council to stick to their word if they actually did commit to stop financially supporting the fair. Critser couldn’t remember if the county actually passed a resolution saying that.
“I felt like, back then, they needed to get on their feet,” Crtiser said. “I don’t think they’re capable. There’s just not enough money there.”
