Senate Institutions reviews judiciary capital requests including backup generators and courthouse renovations

The Senate Committee on Institutions on April 15 heard about several judiciary capital requests affecting county courthouses, including two requests for backup generators, a multimillion-dollar renovation at White River Junction, and a connector/security project at the Essex County Courthouse.

Committee Chair Senator Wendy Harrison, who represents the Wyndham District, said the committee is reviewing five judicial capital projects listed in section 14 of the judiciary capital budget and noted one item had been dropped from the package. She emphasized existing state law that places responsibility on counties to provide and maintain courthouses and described a related proposed amendment to S.109 that would add county capital reserve fund levels as a criterion when evaluating capital requests.

Those presenting to the committee outlined four active courthouse projects in section 14: a request for a backup generator at the Windsor (Woodstock) county courthouse ($100,000); a large renovation project at White River Junction (variously discussed as $50 million and noted elsewhere in the hearing as an $8 million cash-fund appropriation for a phase of work); a connector and security upgrade at the Essex County Courthouse (discussed at roughly $3.7 million); and a backup power request for the Memorial County Courthouse. The Newport courthouse replacement item was removed from the package because the site and whether to renovate or rebuild had not been decided.

Senator Harrison summarized the statutory context for county courthouses and capital requests, noting a statute (transcript reference: "statute 20 title 24 71 days") that she said requires counties to provide and pay for courthouse facilities and a separate statute she cited that allows counties to request that the judiciary include a courthouse capital request in the judiciary capital budget. She also told the committee about a statutory limit on county capital reserve funds ("cannot exceed 75% of the current budget for that year") and said the proposed amendment to S.109 would add the amount in a county's capital reserve fund as an additional criterion for committee consideration when evaluating a county courthouse capital request.

Officials described operational reasons for the generator requests: temporary power outages have forced courthouse closures and halted hearings, and a generator sized to sustain full court operations would allow proceedings to continue during outages. The Windsor (Woodstock) request was presented as $100,000 for a generator; Memorial County made a similar backup power request because recent outages required courthouse closures. Committee members discussed size and wiring as reasons for different cost estimates between generator requests.

On White River Junction, presenters said the overall renovation is on schedule but also discussed different budget figures in the hearing: an earlier description referenced a large multi‑million-dollar renovation (one speaker referenced $50,000,000), while a separate statement from Scott Moore noted, "White River Junction Courthouse renovation, $8,000,000, that's actually from the cash fund." The committee did not resolve those differing figures during the discussion and asked staff to clarify funding sources and phases.

Greg Hoseley and other finance staff explained that the state is a tenant in many courthouses rather than the owner; counties or the state's Buildings and General Services (BGS) own courthouse facilities depending on the site. Committee members discussed coordination with BGS on state-owned courthouses and the possibility of a multi‑year plan to stagger generator and other infrastructure work across locations.

On the Essex County connector project, presenters described a plan to link the existing courthouse to an adjacent meeting house to improve jury services, create separate public and nonpublic circulation, increase security (including a sally port and private meeting spaces for attorneys and defendants), and modernize operations. Committee discussion included design features and historic-preservation constraints; presenters said linking the two buildings reduces cost by reusing existing structures and that earlier appropriations (leftover funds from previous HVAC projects) had been used to fund design work. One presenter corrected an earlier funding figure for the design appropriation, saying the leftover amount was $350,000, not $750,000.

No formal votes were taken during the April 15 discussion. Staff and the assistant judges participating remotely were available to answer more detailed project questions, and committee members requested additional documentation, permitting records, and clarified budget figures before any final action.

The hearing also touched on several other courthouse planning matters not in section 14, including BGS planning work on the Barrie criminal courthouse and a parking garage/office complex project in Burlington that includes multiple executive-branch tenants.

Committee members indicated they would follow up with staff for clarified funding figures, BGS information on state-owned courthouses, and documentation for the Essex connector and White River Junction projects.