After pricing and planning for months — and needing more space for years — county officials are opting to pause and further study the idea of building a new, $49 million highway shop.

The move comes just as the highway department facility was on the June 9 Green County Board agenda in the form of a vote on whether to issue bonds. Meanwhile, the new jail and sheriff’s office is already under construction and the county board agreed to issue bonds for that $86 million project.

But the highway facility was nowhere near as far in the planning stages, and there needs to be more consensus on the need for the garage moving forward, according to Green County Administrator Nic Owen.

“We all knew it wasn’t a done deal,” he said, adding that he is aware of the sticker shock taxpayers felt about several major government facilities under construction at once in the area. “It’s a lot of money, and seeing the ticket price for the first time, it’s a lot for people to digest.”

With the planning help from contractor Kraemer Brothers Construction, the county had narrowed the list of options for the project to one — a 160,000-square-foot county highway department garage at the Pleasant View County complex; and likely to cost from about $42 million to $48 million to build. At one point, area officials even looked at six options involving several sites across the county and studied the idea of a shared facility with the City of Monroe.

Waiting to build, though, could end up costing the county in the long run, due to the soaring rate of inflation that can add 6 to 8 percent or more per year to the price tag — or in the case of the inflation spike of 2022, as much as 15 percent or more.

“It’s only going to get more expensive,” said Highway Commissioner Chris Narveson. “Buildings are never a waste of money; this one we’re in is 100 years old, and we’re still using it.”

The garage is needed, he added, due to aging heating and ventilation systems, and a lack of space to store and service many county vehicles.

“I’ve got trucks coming on order that no longer fit the buildings,” he said. “And I want this to be able to be a good place for people to work.”

In broad terms, the tax impact of the project under the Pleasant View scenario would have likely tacked on about 60 cents to the mill rate, meaning the site could add about $180 a year in county taxes for the owner of a $300,000 house, officials said. By comparison, they added that the jail and sheriff’s office project adds about $300 per year to the tax bill for that same $300,000 house in the county.

“The board just felt they needed time to think about the highway shop,” said Owen of the June 9 meeting. “It’s really a combination of factors,” that led to the pause.