Benton County Moves Ahead With $24 Million Government Center

FOLEY (WJON News) -- Benton County commissioners have approved the low bid to build a new government center.

County Administrator Monty Headley says the low bid is $24.2-million. That's more than $5-million less than the original estimated project cost of $29.7-million.

He says a petition signed by about 1,900 Benton County voters to put the project to a vote was filed with the county. He says it left commissioners with the option to recommend it for a special or the general election, shelf the project, or find a different way to fund it without using general obligation bonds.

In the end, Headley says the board chose to move forward with constructing the project...

I think one thing that did compel some additional discussion to take further action was the recognition that the bids came in about $5-million lower than the actual project estimated costs. I think that did encourage the board members to explore other ways so that they could possibly finance the project.

The county will finance the project by using lease revenue debt through the county HRA for a 20-year period.

County officials say the existing government center is in dire need of costly repairs and is at capacity.

The cost of renovating the existing complex is estimated to be about the same as that of a new facility, and it wouldn't add any additional space.

A new government center will include a dedicated space and drive-thru for the DMV, a larger county board room, room for growth, and state-of-the-art technology.

Construction is expected to begin in late July with a completion date of late fall 2026.