Debate season is nearly over now that early voting has begun, and one of the recurring topics for county judge is spending on the Polk County Courthouse, where expenses have exceeded expectations.
Candidates Larry Pfeil and Roy E. Grant have spoken against the spending, while current Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy has maintained the county made the best financial decision possible.
“We had right at a $5 million grant,” Murphy said. “Then, our matching portion was $5 million to do a complete restoration – not just fix a few things, but restore the whole kit and caboodle. Then, COVID hit, and inflation hit, and so we had to borrow some money.”
Numbers released by the county show that total funding assistance now slightly surpasses $6 million, with much of that from the Texas Historical Commission. The cost to Polk County is a little over $6 million more than originally expected, at $11,100,171.
Grants were accepted from the Texas Historical Commission in 2018. Their involvement began when the courthouse was declared a historical building back in 2001.
Historical landmarks are generally required to maintain integrity, making it difficult to disregard repairs. The ongoing construction is a complete overhaul of both the interior and exterior of the structure.
“They don’t make (repairs at a certain time) mandatory, but you do have to maintain the building,” Murphy said. “We borrowed money to do that, and we borrowed the money at 2.3%. Then, we put it in a savings account, and at its peak, it was earning us 5.4%. So, the money kind of paid us to some degree or another. The question still stands – you have to fix it, so do you want to get help fixing it or do you want to pay for all of it yourself? Would you like to accept the $5 million and accept a 30-35% savings?”
The original grant was to pay for nearly half, with Polk County matching funds at a 52/48 split. The county was responsible for much more than half once the price tag began to rise and the process was well underway.
“By then, we were already into it. We would still have to spend our money fixing it. Why would you return $5 million? No, you’re not getting a 50% savings, but isn’t 30% better than zero?”
In a recent debate, Pfeil argued that once the price began to rise, the county should have pulled funding, calling it, “throwing good money after bad.”
“The court was very deliberate in that decision,” Murphy said. “We didn’t just say that we are digging in and not giving up on this. We looked at what the interest rates were, and part of the reason that we got the 2.3% interest rate was because of our bond rating. When John Thompson was in office, our bond rating was a B. Our interest rate was high. Our bond rating now is an AA-, which is basically unheard of for counties.”
Murphy said the courthouse would eventually need repairs and would still need to include the historical commission. The court felt they were in a financial position where it made more sense to perform the repairs at that time for the best rates possible.
“The community wanted all of their services to be centralized. Now, they are going to be centralized. Now, you can go to the clerk’s office, to the tax office, to permits, or wherever you need to go, and it’s all going to be right there in the courthouse. Originally, there were 16-17 people working in that building. When we are done, that will be 46-47 people working in the building. It was just sitting there not going to good use at all, where you are paying electricity on over 14,000 square feet.”
