Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

A couple of agenda items led to lengthy discussions at the Monday meeting of the Osage Board of County Commissioners. The continuing discussion regarding the County owned Kennedy building was brought forward by Courthouse Review Committee Co-Chair Mike Tolson. Tolson explained and discussed the possible sale of the Kennedy building through either sealed bid auction or live auction, the Committee had asked that the Commissioners hold off on the sale of the Kennedy building last year in order to use it as an option for renovation. The Commissioners agreed that putting the building up for sale would benefit the County, however they continued to discuss which option would be best for this instance.

A sealed bid auction would get the building sold quickly and for at least the required 80 percent of appraised value, which is required by law. Whereas, a live auction would bring in more of a crowd, and possibly send the price on the building much higher, or could result in a failure to meet reserve and a waste of tax payer funds. The Commissioners chose to hold off on making a decision for at least two weeks to continue research both options.

The second item which absorbed much of the two hour meeting Monday was the continuing discussion regarding the new Courthouse Renovation and Annex funding. Discussion has gone back and forth between funding the proposal through ad valorem, property tax, or through a half cent sales tax. All three of the commissioners are in favor a sales tax option as the burden would be dispersed across the county rather than just on the land owners.

Jeff Raley of the Floyd Law Firm has conducted the research regarding the funding of the nearly 18 million dollar project, and shows that at a half cent it would take nearly 20 years for the county to pay of the renovation and annex. However, along with the Pawhuska Courthouse Renovation and new annex, Skiatook would also receive a new Courthouse annex at which to conduct county business such as pay taxes, pay traffic/court fines, attend traffic/misdemeanor court. The Skiatook annex would also has a space for the Health Department, which has been one of their goals for quite some time. The Health Department already receives a quarter of one cent from sales tax for their funding and is willing for redirected an eighth of the quarter towards the construction and renovation project. With the redirection of the eighth cent sales tax funding, the County would only need to ask the public for a three eighths of a cent sales tax increase. The increased would cost the average Osage County resident approximately 2 dollars a month, versus an ad valorem tax which would add a 10 percent tax on Osage land owners.

Even with the support and funds available from the Health Department, District 3 Commissioner Darren McKinney is apprehensive to introduce the proposal to the public until the County has more assurance that the measure could pass. McKinney does not want to see a repeat of the 2011 proposal which failed by a nearly 80 percent margin. McKinney said that he does not want to rush the vote or just slip it onto a ballot, he wants to make sure they take the time to do it right. However, the commissioners and county officials continue to insist and the proposal needs to be passed to continue using the aging Courthouse in Pawhuska, and ensure the safety of the public.

The Commissioners will meet again next Monday at the Osage County Courthouse in Pawhuska.