Wednesday, June 23, 1999
Warren Co. tax enough to pay cash for new building
No borrowing means big interest savings
BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Saving Warren County taxpayers millions of dollars, the county commission Tuesday signed off on $11.3 million worth of contracts for a new administration building — to be paid in cash.
Not only does the project save money by coming in $5 million lower than expected, but the county avoids spending several million dollars in interest because it won't have to borrow for it.
“I can't sign them quick enough,” Commissioner Larry Crisenbery said of the 12 thick contract books. Now “we won't be crammed in here.”
Architects Associated Inc. of Dayton won the architect contract; the general contract went to Dugan & Meyers Construction Co. of Cincinnati.
Plans for the three-story administration building were hashed out for three years. Officials will break ground on the 110,000-square-foot complex — four times larger than the current administration building — at 10 a.m. July 1 on Justice Drive. Construction could take up to two years.
The same explosive growth that led to the need for a new building also fueled the ability to pay for it. Money has been set aside from the county's half-percent sales tax since 1993, Mr. Crisenbery said.
In 1998, the half-percent isales tax collected almost $7.6 million, said Tiffany Ferrell-Sauer, director of the county Office of Management and Budget.
So far in 1999, the tax has yielded almost $4 million — on track to bring in $8 million by year's end, she said.
Thanks to savings from the same tax, the county also paid in cash $6.1 million for a new juvenile justice complex, $2.3 million in renovations to the old county courthouse and about $5 million to remodel the county jail and sheriff's office.
“We've been saving for several years,” Ms. Ferrell-Sauer said.
The new administration building will arrive just in time. The county's population has soared 28.2 percent to 146,033 people from 1990 to 1998, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
But the current building at 320 E. Silver St. in Lebanon could not keep up: It is so crowded, sections of the data processing department are divided among three buildings. The new building will house data processing and offices now scattered throughout Lebanon. It can accommodate growth for 15-20 years, Mr. Crisenbery said.
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Warren Co. tax enough to pay cash for new building
