Courthouse plans back on agenda
BENTONVILLE — The Benton County Quorum Court plans to revisit how to pay for a modern courts building after voters rejected the last proposal.
County Judge Barry Moehring has said he expects a “vigorous debate” about a new courthouse at a Finance Committee meeting Tuesday.
The Quorum Court has had little to say about the issue since voters shot down a plan to build a downtown court facility at a March 12 special election. There were 6,055 votes against to 3,714 votes for a temporary sales tax plan, according to the certified results from the Election Commission.
The failed one-eighth of a percentage point sales tax increase would have paid for an 87,000-square-foot, $30 million courthouse on Northeast Second Street. The tax would have been for 54 months, according to county documents.
The county also proposed spending another $5 million to update the downtown courthouse, including the courtroom on the third floor. The current courthouse was built in 1928.
Discussion of any new plan will start in Finance Committee meetings, Committee Chairman Tom Allen said.
Fifteen Republicans compose the Quorum Court, and all of them meet as the Finance Committee.
Previous financing plans considered by the Quorum Court included a dedicated sales tax from 1% to one-eighth of a percent, long-term financing with a mixture of general fund revenue, road tax millage with long-term financing and a hybrid of multiple funding mechanisms.
The next few months are crucial for airing ideas, Allen said.
“Whatever method we choose, I hope to have a general consensus by the end of the summer,” he said. “If we stall, it just dies.”
Justice of the Peace Pat Adams said he would like to see civil plans and bid the work out to save money. Civil plans would include grading of the site, the basement, the foundation, any needed roads to and from the site as well as water, sewer and external electric. The county could use its reserve and a short-term loan to pay for the project, he said.
Moehring has said he supports the downtown plan put before voters. The location is the best solution to the county’s burgeoning courts problem, he said. Allen said he backs Moehring on the downtown site.
Adams also likes a downtown location, but with one condition: the county still gets the original third-party support that was promised with the location.
The Walton Family Foundation committed to donate the land for the building and $2 million, and the Off-Street Parking District No. 3 was going to build a parking deck, Moehring said. Third-party contributions were valued close to $10 million, but those incentives were tied to a downtown location, he said. The offers will terminate Dec. 31, according to county documents.