MONROE — The preferred site for the new. 160,000-square-foot county highway department garage will likely be adjacent to the current Pleasant View county complex, and cost from about $42 million to $48 million to build.
That’s the consensus from Thursday’s Green County Highway Committee meeting, during which multiple options were presented for eventual county board consideration. But the Pleasant View site remains the most viable, the committee largely agreed, although the final decision on the much-studied project will be up to the full county board at a future date.
A vote on the initial project budget is likely in January 2027, officials added.
But though it is still among options studied by the county and its initial planning contractor, Kraemer Brothers Construction, there’s no practical way the current highway department facility can be easily be expanded — especially as construction continues apace on the county’s new, $86 million jail and sheriff’s office complex a stone’s throw away.
“The site is arguably not right,” said County Highway Commissioner Chris Narveson.
At one point, area officials looked at six options involving several sites and even studied the idea of a shared facility with the City of Monroe. Among those sites are one off of Aebly Road (a county road), the so-called “Donny Property” on 6.5 acres off County DR, north of the City of Monroe Industrial Park, land near Walmart on the city’s far northwest edge; and the Pleasant View complex, which already hosts a major county office building, humane society and nursing home.
Advantages of the Pleasant View building site, according to a presentation by Kraemer Brothers’ Vice President Greg Gallin Thursday, include:
● Utilities are nearby, easing infrastructure related costs
● Less grading needed than other sites
● No soil contamination to slow the project
● Soil that has been determined to be “buildable.”
● Best circulation of traffic of the proposed sites
● Fewer road improvements required than other options
● Lower overall cost/higher value compared to other sites
Meanwhile, Gallin said that taking one of the phased construction options, which could save several million dollars initially, would end up likely costing the county in the long run, due to the soaring rate of inflation that can add 6 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.
“Overall, you will have higher cost from a phased build out, due to inflation,” he told the committee, citing the soaring costs of steel, cement and other building materials.
In broad terms, the tax impact of the project under the preferred scenario will likely tack 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.
“I understand the cost and dollars are big,” said Narveson, adding that he’s aware of the cost of multiple taxpayers funded projects going up in the county have raised concern in the current economic environment. “(But) you start pushing this out, it just only gets more expensive.”