Staff writer
Money to pay for long-discussed Marion County Courthouse window repairs will come from a special building project fund the county has been setting aside for years. The fund now has over $1.3 million.
Part of the reason is that the project, though scheduled to begin late this year, won’t generate tax credits the county hopes to sell to pay a quarter of the $679,503 project until the job is finished in 2017.
“We’ve got the money without coming near depleting the pot,” commissioner Dan Holub said Thursday. “We’re in a corner here. Get the bid stuff out while we can.”
Commissioners regard the repairs as urgent.
“We’ve got windows that could fall out,” commissioner Randy Dallke said.
Re-View, based in Kansas City, was winning bidder for restoration of damaged windows and making all windows operable.
Commissioners originally contemplated replacing windows instead of restoring them, but tax credits available through the State Historical Society because the Courthouse is on the National Registry of Historic Places could not be claimed.
After the work is completed, the county expects to recoup 25 percent of the cost through a State Historical Society tax credit program.