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Monday, December 18, 2006
Ind. Courts - Yet more on: "More money needed to complete Greene County courthouse"
Dec. 14 was the most recent ILB entry on this story. Today the Greene County Daily World has a story by Nick Schneider that begins:
Approximately $12.5 million has been spent on the Greene County courthouse addition/renovation project to date, Greene County Board of Commissioners President Bart Beard told The Daily World on Friday.Beard said about $500,000 remains in the construction account and that's not enough to finish the project.
Two weeks ago the commissioners, by a 2-0 vote, approved a request to ask the Greene County Council to approve an additional $4 million in bond anticipation notes - known as BANs - to provide funds to complete the project.
Today in a 4 p.m. meeting at the courthouse, the Greene County Council is expected to act on that request.
If approved by the county council, the county would issue additional BANS, which is a form of financing like a line of credit, where only the amount needed is borrowed. The county will pay only interest on what is borrowed until the civil suit litigation currently pending against the design team, general contractor and related parties is resolved. The money received in litigation will be used to re-pay the BANS, according to board of commissioner's attorney Marilyn Hartman.
The $4 million requested will be used to fund approximately $2 million in additional construction costs, $1.2 million in additional engineering, project management and related construction costs; and $800,000 in litigation expenses.
The $4 million additional cost will drive the overall cost of the project up to about $16.5 million - at least $6 million above the original contract issued four years ago.
However, a pending civil lawsuit filed in Owen Circuit Court, will attempt to recover the cost overruns because of numerous delays, engineering flaws, additional construction costs and litigation costs. * * *
At a Dec. 5 commissioner's meeting, Rich Starkey with the Indiana law firm of Barnes and Thornberg, which is charged with the bond sale on the construction project, cautioned the commissioners against stopping the project at this juncture. He said if the project is stopped the county would default on the bonds causing the county's credit rating to suffer greatly.
A similar extension of credit for the project was approved in February 2005, when the county council approved the issuance of $2.5 million in BANS to cover costs required to repair the structural damages to the south stairway and the foundation of the courthouse and related delays.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 18, 2006 07:23 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts