EVERETT – The Snohomish County Council agreed Wednesday to sell up to $12 million in bonds to help cover the rising cost of its county government campus redevelopment project in downtown Everett.
The campus, which includes an expanded jail and a new administration building, is the biggest public works project in Snohomish County’s history.
Finance officials told the council in April that they would need more money to finish the job than the $170 million earmarked for construction. Much of the unfinished work now will move forward.
Council members agreed this week on how to spend the money raised by next week’s bond sale.
Almost $3 million will be spent on completion of the county’s new administration building. Another $3.1 million will be spent on remodeling the existing administration building, and $1.9 million will be spent renovating the old jail.
The county also plans to spend $500,000 to fix up the historic Mission Building, the old county courthouse with its iconic clock tower that was built in 1910.
The bond sale includes $1 million for other campus remodeling projects. County officials said that money will be spent on issues that have only been brought up in closed-door executive sessions. Such sessions usually involve talk of pending lawsuits or property purchases.
The bond sale also will pay for several items unrelated to the county campus project, including a land purchase to increase the size of the county fairgrounds, and money for a new gun range for the sheriff’s office on county land at Cathcart.
If the final costs come in as expected, the budget for the campus project will climb from $170 million to $175 million. That doesn’t include the $3.6 million for remodeling the old administration building and work on the Mission Building, because those were not included in the original campus project.
Not everyone was happy with the timing of the bond sale. County Councilman Jeff Sax said the sale was premature. He wanted more discussion on the projects that would be financed by the sale.
“We’re borrowing the money before we’ve said we wanted to do the projects,” Sax said. “We’re going to go borrow the money, pay interest and then make decisions on how we’re going to spend this money. And that makes me nervous.”
Council Chairman Gary Nelson said there hasn’t been much talk on the details, but said that will happen later. “This is strictly selling the bonds. We will be reviewing the actual application of the dollars after the bonds are sold,” he said.
The council may juggle items on the list of things to be financed by the bonds, Nelson said.
Sax said it seemed that the bond sale was being driven by low interest rates, and Nelson agreed.
“I see everybody rushing out there to sell bonds, and the markets are changing so dramatically,” Nelson said. “I’d rather get in at this lower interest rate than wait a month or two and cost us a great deal more.”
Much of the expanded budget for the project will help cover unexpected costs. Construction crews hit a pocket of contaminated soil when work began, and workers tapped into underground springs as they dug a hole for the underground garage.
Larry Van Horn, the county’s facilities management director, said renovation of the old jail could be done by December. Remodeling the old administration building will take up to seven months.
Work on the Mission Building includes removing some walls, plus new paint and carpeting.
Snohomish County will celebrate the opening of the county campus June 3. The campus will be dedicated at noon, with a groundbreaking ceremony for a time capsule on the main plaza. Hourly tours of the new facilities also are planned. The Everett Symphony will perform at 5:30 p.m.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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