CLAYTON — ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Executive Sam Page said Wednesday he plans to push for a property tax increase to pay for a new county headquarters and office space.
The county is considering a range of plans to fix or replace its aging building in downtown Clayton, from a $276 million overhaul to a $612 million brand-new facility. Page said Wednesday he expects ideas will be presented soon, and the issue could hit the ballot in November.
“We’ll be talking more about that in the coming weeks,†Page said at an unrelated news conference Wednesday morning.
The county faces a 2028 deadline to either bring the 52-year-old Lawrence K. Roos administration building up to code or to build a new one. If it doesn’t, it could face eviction and thousands of dollars in fines for not having the correct fire sprinkler system in the old building.
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Architects presented a handful of options to the county council last summer. Officials said then the only way the county could afford any of the options is to issue general obligation bonds, and a bond issue requires voter approval.
Republican Ernie Trakas of unincorporated South County said the current building has outlived its usefulness; a new building is the way to go.
“That, to me, would be a better use of taxpayer money,†Trakas said.
Rita Heard Days, a Democrat from Bel-Nor, said she’d like the county to explore the cheapest possible option for installing a sprinkler system before asking the voters for more money.
“I think that this is not a good time for that,†Days said. “We’re just coming off a major reassessment and voters are a little uptight about that.â€
The county’s architectural contractor, WSP Global Inc., found there were a few options for replacing or repairing the building, home to elected officials and several county departments on South Central Avenue.
The cheapest option would cost $276 million over 20 years and pay for reconfigured office spaces, installation of a required sprinkler system, replacement of leaky windows, asbestos abatement and other deferred maintenance.
A second option, which WSP recommended, would cost $560 million to build a new county building in the county-owned parking lot across the street from the existing site, plus a satellite office in mid-county.
The most expensive proposal would cost $612 million. It would be the same as the $560 million option except police would stay in their current headquarters with some renovations.
If approved by voters, the various tax increases would cost the owner of a $255,000 house between $3 and $8 a month on property taxes over a 20-year government loan period, according to estimates from WSP.
The county charter requires key government functions, including the county executive and council, to remain in downtown Clayton.