Voters reject sales tax increase for courthouse repairs

 On Tuesday, April 7, county residents rejected a sales tax of 25 cents on $100 to go into a restricted fund for the 1880 courthouse repairs. The tax would have gone into effect Jan. 1, 2010.

 The county wanted to raise an estimated $387,031 for annual debt service, plus bond regulations that required a 25 percent cushion, for an estimated total of $483,789. Based on past sales figures, the sales tax would have generated $600,000 to $700,000 per year. Any surplus would have reduced the length of time the tax is collected, according to administration committee chairman Tom Steele.

 The tax was scheduled to end in 10 years — or be rescinded by the county board if money is received from other sources such as federal stimulus money for public facilities. The courthouse renovation was among 39 projects submitted to Bi-State Regional Commission as possibilities for the stimulus package.

 Certain purchases would have been exempt from the tax, including groceries, medical needs and all titled property such as cars, trucks and boats.

 The county has looked at the need for repairs for three to four years, and hired architects Phillips and Associates of Canton in 2007 to determine the scope of the problems and estimate costs.

 To date, only one grant has been secured for the project, $5,000 through the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

 Estimates include $779,080 for site work including $500,000 for lead paint removal and abatement and $261,400 for scaffolding; $462,600 for roofing; $105,247 for masonry; and $101,800 for windows. Clock tower repair and restoration is estimated at $37,000.

 In the year since the original estimate, additional tuckpointing has been added to the project and an additional $50,000 has been added to the original $100,000 contingency fee.

 Design work would have begun this summer, with actual construction in the spring of 2010.

 Some have suggested the county do the work on a pay-as-you-go basis, but Steele said it would be like moving a bucket around under a leaky roof and not gaining on it.

 “It can’t be done,” he said. “You would cause more damage. One of the most expensive items is the scaffolding, and that has to go up and remain until the job is done. If you do it piecemeal it would cost more than $2.5 million.”

 At the Wednesday, March 25, open house, architect Bill Phillips explained everything above the second floor is metal, chosen to be lightweight but made to look like stone. Metal is wearing thin, and joints are wearing out and letting water leak into the courthouse. He said slate roofs are estimated to last 85 to 100 years, and these have worn out at more than 100 years old. He said he’s picked up chunks of stone veneer from the grass next to the side of the building.

 “It can be repaired, but it’ll just cost quite a bit more as its deterioration continues,” he said.

 County board chairman Tom Nicholson noted the original construction was approved in the wake of the Panic of 1873 when the largest bank in the country failed and before the age of federal deposit insurance and other safeguards.

 “I don’t think there’s any real comparison; things were tougher in the 1870s,” he said. “They found it so important then that they taxed themselves during those dire times and built arguably the most beautiful structure in the Midwest. Maybe I’m puffing, but I would put it up against any other courthouse in the Midwest as far as its beauty and its dignity. It’s up to us to keep it in good repair for decades and decades to come.”

 Nicholson said he puts about $100 worth of gas in his truck a month, and if the referendum passes he’ll pay 25 cents as the total tax towards the courthouse on that gas.

 A brochure points out that the $2.5 million estimate to preserve the courthouse is much less than the cost of demolition and building new.

 Cambridge builder Harvey Johnson said, “Something’s got to be done or we won’t have a building.”