Washington County supervisors authorized a budget amendment to move money from the county capital reserve into a new capital project budget to start architectural and engineering design on a multifunction administration building while the county awaits long-term financing.

Staff said the county submitted an application to the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) and has qualified for a 0% loan; EFC review and formal award will take several months. To keep the design work moving, staff requested a budget transfer of up to $429,791 from capital reserve into a new project line to cover design costs. “We have submitted a finance application to the New York City ERC. We have qualified for a 0% loan. It's just gonna take a couple months to get the money from them. So we're trying to bridge that gap,” said a presenter.

Staff said any amounts expended now would be reimbursed to the capital reserve when the EFC loan is formally disbursed. Supervisors asked clarifying questions about whether an existing capital project covered the same work; staff said this request would create a new capital project distinct from earlier window-and-door work. The board moved the request to finance and voted to approve; the chair called for ayes and the motion carried.

Staff said the county may close other older capital projects in a later finance meeting and return residual funds to the capital reserve; those closures will be presented to finance for final accounting.