Wood County Commission paying off Justice Center debt ahead of schedule
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PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission will pay off what is owed on the Wood County Justice Center early.
After meeting with Wood County Clerk Joe Gonzales on Thursday, the commission agreed they had the money available to pay of the remainder debt of around $3.6 million for the building that houses the Wood County Magistrate Court, Wood County Sheriff's Office and the holding center.
The building was renovated from a 15-year-old, 32,000-square-foot, single-story office building in downtown Parkersburg in 2010.
"We have gone over the finances, and we have the wherewithal to pay everything off," said Wood County Commission President Blair Couch. "Doing this now will allow us to save around $1.3 million in interest."
The county was scheduled to make payments through 2037 on a series of bonds taken to pay for the project.
"As we are finishing up the Resiliency Center and the new 911 center, we started looking at our finances, and we have a pretty good grasp of what we have, and we were thinking about what kind of loans we have," Couch said.
Gonzales reviewed the bonds with United Bank, which holds the bonds.
"We looked at the total and realized we could pay it off," Couch said. "Like anyone, we want to be debt free. We now will be at the turn of the new year. This is huge."
Under the original plan, the county would have had to make regular payments between $240,000 and $270,000 each year through 2029, plus interest. Payments of $860,000 plus interest and $1.67 million plus interest would have followed in 2032 and 2037, respectively.
"Now we are going to save all of the interest we would have paid," Couch said.
Gonzales credited the commission with watching expenses to allow the county to pay off the building now.
The commission wanted to be transparent with the public regarding this money, officials said.
"We don't owe anything on the Resiliency Center, and we don't owe anything on the 911 Center," Couch said. "We won't owe anything on any building we own."
Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said this will be the first time in a long time the county will be in that kind of position.
"It gives us an opportunity for us to have a nice cushion, a rainy day fund, and it will save the taxpayers money as well," he said. "That is a good thing."
Couch described it as a "red-letter day" for Wood County going into the budget process early next year.
"It is always nice to have the opportunity to be able to pay off debt," Commissioner Robert Tebay said. "There is no question about that."
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com