HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of County Commissioners approved this week the bonding for the Sheriff’s training facility, and the two fire district stations, in Turon and Nickerson, respectively. The amount of bonds will not exceed $2,045,000, which includes the principal amounts for each project and issuance costs.
The timeline for the bonds to be issued has the closing of bonds in early December 2024.
The decision to issue the bonds by the Public Building Commission will require a future vote by the commission to approve a lease agreement that will detail the repayment terms from the county to the PBC.
Sheriff’s Office –Firearms Training Center Phase II
Hutton Construction estimates this at $1.45 million, with a five year pay back.
Fire District # 3 (Nickerson) – New fire building
Estimated total cost $450,000 with the district paying $200,000 of this amount from their reserves and a 10 year pay back.
Fire District #7 (Turon) – New fire building
Estimated total cost $450,000 with the fire district paying $150,000 of this amount from their reserves with a 10 year pay back.
The firearms training center bond payments will be paid for by the county’s capital improvement reserve fund. This fund has enough money to cover the entire cost, but by using all of the money at this time, it hinders the potential needs for the reserve funds for other emergent needs that might come up that are not in the current year’s operating budget. The amount of interest earned on these idle funds is also higher than the interest rates for the bonds, allowing the county’s General Fund to earn more interest that helps offset the mill levy amounts.
The two fire districts will pay back their portion of the bond from their respective operational budgets that are set each year. To help reduce the need for a tax increase for these funds, it is possible that the amount of year-end transfers for each fund that goes into their reserve funds for equipment purchases will be reduced by the amount needed to pay the bond. To minimize the tax payer impact, staff has used a 10 year pay back of the bonds for the fire districts.