Thurston County plans to raise as much as $42 million by issuing bonds to finance the purchase of a new building for the Sheriff's Office and improve other county buildings.
The Board of County Commissioners voted 3-1, with a one abstention, last week to approve acquiring and remodeling of various county facilities.
Bond proceeds may be used to improve an existing building or buy land to construct a new building for the Sheriff's Office, according to county spokesperson Meghan Porter and county documents. The county also plans to use the proceeds to renovate the Auditor's ballot processing center at its Mottman Complex and to improve the security system at its Family and Juvenile Court in Tumwater.
The projects for the Sheriff's Office and the Auditor's Office will be paid for using revenue from the Public Safety Tax that voters passed last November, Campbell said. Other available county funds would be used to fund additional infrastructure or capital improvements, per Porter.
The county does not expect the bond to lead to an increase in property tax, according to Porter.
While most of that funding is designated to boost staffing at the Sheriff's Office, a fraction of it is intended to support election security infrastructure, according to the county.
The county is currently aiming to construct a new voter registration center at its Mottman Complex in Tumwater in time for the presidential election this year. Much needed renovations at the adjacent ballot processing center are expected to follow.
The inclusion of the Family and Juvenile Court improvements in the resolution comes after the jail facility experienced a technological setback earlier this year.
In February, Facilities Services Manager Jason Ashe briefed the board on a "major failure" of its electronic security control system that forced staff to revert to using keys. At the time, Ashe said the system has exceeded its lifespan and a long-term fix may roughly cost about $2 million.
How does this work?
In 2022, the county approved a similar $52 million bond resolution to finance its still ongoing remodel and reorganization of its courthouse campus on Lakeridge Drive in Olympia.
Like the previous resolution, the new resolution authorizes Assistance County Manager Robin Campbell to approve the final terms of the sale of the limited tax general obligation bonds.
"This allows for the issue of the bonds," Campbell told the board. "The county is not obligated to issue these bonds and could decide not to at a later date."
Campbell said the county structured the bonds so the portion for the Sheriff's Office would be a 20-year bond and the portion for improvements at the ballot processing center and the juvenile jail would be a 10-year bond.
Campbell said the county plans to issue the bonds sometime in the fall, Sept. 26 at the earliest. The actual date of the sale will be determined with input from the county's bond advisor and bond counsel, she said.
The county set up the resolution now so it can meet an interest rate and payment schedule without reconvening the board within hours of a bond sale, according to county documents.
The commission may decide to use any proceeds that remain after the planned projects are completed for other capital projects or to pay down the bonds, according to county documents.
How did the commissioners vote?
Commissioners Carolina Mejia, Tye Menser and Wayne Fournier voted in favor of the resolution. Commissioner Gary Edwards opposed it and Commissioner Emily Clouse abstained.
Edwards and Clouse both said they would prefer to gather more information before proceeding, especially in light of a recent state audit finding against the county.
"I would just reiterate the fact that I do feel there's no reason really not to have more information for discussion on this topic," Edwards said. "It's a lot of money."
Clouse said she still wanted to "wrap her mind around" the financial implications of issuing such a large bond. She asked for the board to delay the matter.
"As a new commissioner, I don't want to see myself in situations similar to what we're facing now with the audit finding that just came before us," Clouse said.
The board could have delayed the vote, but Campbell warned that the county may need to do an interfund loan, which carries its own interest rate, if the county needed to spend money on the projects before issuing the bonds.
Menser said the projects for the Sheriff's Office and Auditor's Office are time sensitive. He said the Sheriff's Office project was prompted by renovations at the courthouse campus.
Those renovations are forcing the Sheriff's Office to move to another space. Infrastructure for the Sheriff's Office was also a key part of the Public Safety Tax proposition, he added.
"Voters have asked us to move forward on election security and the associated infrastructure with additional staffing at the Sheriff's Office," Menser said. "To me, this is just part of that process, moving it forward."
___
(c)2024 The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.)
Visit The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.) at www.theolympian.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
