Committee reviews three financing options for proposed justice center; legislation seen as likeliest path

Monroe County's Long‑Term Finance Planning Committee spent its August meeting reviewing three financing pathways to pay for a proposed justice center project the presenters estimated at about $225 million. Presenters said options under current law will not fully fund the project and that legislative change is the most plausible way to obtain long‑term Local Income Tax (LIT)/EDIT authority large enough to cover the debt service.

The options presented - Option 1: Lease financing payable from property taxes. County presenters said financing the full $225 million with this route would require roughly $18 million per year in debt service; under the staff estimate that would translate to an estimated property‑tax increase of about $0.16 per $100 of assessed value and would be subject to a referendum for bond authorization. - Option 2: Pledge up to 25% of current EDIT/LIT receipts for debt service. Staff estimated current county shares of the relevant income taxes at about $41 million; 25% of that would be roughly $10 million, which staff said would allow only a small bond issue (approximately $19 million under current assumptions) and would not fund the full project. - Option 3: Seek new state legislation allowing a long‑term LIT bond for the full project. Presenters said the county would need an enactment (or pledge) of about 41 basis points of LIT on current income tax levels to support a $225 million, 20‑year bond at assumed illustrative interest rates. County staff and bond counsel said that change would require action at the state level and that the county has been preparing a letter and talking to legislators about those changes.

Why it matters: constraints and knock‑on effects Presenters told the committee that recent state changes (referred to in the meeting as SEA/SB 1 and related reforms) have altered how community income tax revenue is calculated and distributed and that the county cannot reliably assume past growth quotients in future revenue projections. The committee heard that the elimination or reduction of a local growth quotient could materially reduce future available revenue and that other taxing units (municipalities, libraries, transit, townships) also will compete for portions of the same income tax base.

Quantities and risks discussed - Project cost discussed by staff: approximately $225,000,000 (presenters also referenced a $227M/225M range in different slides).