Finally a solution is in sight for the county’s ongoing office space problem, affecting the 5th District Court, Public Defender, State Attorney, Constitutional Officers located at the Courthouse and the Tax Collector at the Westside Government Center. And the good news is: it won’t cost $130 million — the figure provided by CGL a company hired by the county to conduct a space needs utilization assessment in 2016.
The county paid the company about $80,000 to conduct this study that came up with two options for remedying the cramped office space situation both which included building a new 6 floor 168,000 square foot courthouse.
Since then, the county has begun implementing a temporary space needs plan which included negotiating for ending Bayfront’s lease of the Pinebrook Medical Facility (owned by the county).
Avid readers of The Hernando Sun may recall that physicians leasing space in Pinebrook asked for at least a year to vacate their offices back in October 2017.
At the special space needs workshop held on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, Deputy County Administrator Jeff Rogers explained that in a recent meeting with Bayfront officials, Bayfront has asked the county to release them from their lease of the Pinebrook facility as soon as possible. He opined that the county should have the building back under their control by the end of February and all the tenants, except for the Veterans Administration which occupies a good portion of the facility will be out sometime this year.
The Veterans Administration will most likely remain at Pinebrook for another 3 years as they wait for the construction of a new building.
Rogers presented the commissioners with three solutions to the space needs situation.
The Brooksville Government Center option keeps the Constitutional Officers, Board of County Commissioners, County Administration and Judicial branch within the city of Brooksville. This was the priciest solution with the construction of a new 114,000 square foot building where the records storage building now sits.
2. The Pinebrook Government Center option moves Constitutionals to a new facility constructed near the Pinebrook Medical Center on property owned by the county. The BOCC and Administration would occupy the current Pinebrook facility which would undergo renovations.
3. The third option presented was the 10 year lease and multi-million dollar renovation of the now vacant Sears storefront off of Highway 41 in Brooksville. The Constitutionals would occupy this space, while the BOCC and Administration would move into a renovated Pinebrook facility.
A short term solution that commissioners agreed on is to move the Property Appraiser across the street to the second floor of the SunTrust building (one year lease cost is $173,751). Along with this action, the Board also agreed to go forward on the Pinebrook Government Center option in a unanimous vote. The cost estimate for this is $14,916,000 for the design and construction of the new 40,000 sq ft Constitutional Building ($782,048 Annual debt payment) plus $1,500,000 to remodel Pinebrook for the BOCC and Admin. Another temporary relocation cost is for the Purchasing Department, estimated at $160,000.
Since the Pinebrook Facility is not located within the city of Brooksville, the county seat, annexation of the Pinebrook Property into the county seat is required.
The overcrowding at the Westside Government would be alleviated with the Property Appraiser moving to the SunTrust Building and the Sheriff’s Office relocating to allow for the expansion of the Tax Collector. The cost is estimated at $100,000.
The county hopes to have the Property Appraiser moved out of the courthouse and into the SunTrust building in four months, while the BOCC Admin would be about a year. The Tax Collector and Supervisor of Elections would be out of the courthouse in three years.
Prior to the vote Chairman Champion remarked, “I don’t want to see any tax increases or millage increases to fund this.” He wanted a commitment from the board to cut in order to fund this or “grow our way out of it” where significant growth in the county would be able to bring in enough revenue to fund the project.
The costs of the project would result in a .12 millage rate increase if funding is taken out of the general fund without any spending cuts.