Photo submitted to the Times Observer Members of the Warren County Commissioners are pictured during a special meeting to approve a $6.8 million bond issue.

The Warren County Commissioners have finalized terms on a revenue bond to help pay for a $5.2 million emergency radio tower project as well as repairs to the county jail and new computer servers.

Commissioners held a special meeting last week to approve the bond. The $5.2 million emergency radio tower upgrade will include installation of three new towers – one in Sugar Grove, one in Elk and one in Sheffield. Once the project is completed, Ken Klakamp, commissioner, said the county should be set for a while. The life span is 35 to 50 years.

“This is not something that we wanted to do,” Klakamp said. “This is something we needed to do to protect our citizens and our responders.”

County officials have known for some time that it wasn’t finished with its emergency radio tower project. The new project will resolve gaps in emergency communications that exist in areas like Sugar Grove, Scandia and other areas that border New York state. The county’s older tower sites, some of which can be described as “structurally deficient,” are connected by copper lines instead of fiber or microwave. That presents functionality issues whenever it rains. But the county is also paying for that connectivity and, ideally, will be able to cut copper connectivity out of the system with this project. The plan includes the county vacating a couple of its existing tower sites and is looking at developing the three new tower sites.

“The county has gone about this in a very deliberate, thoughtful way,” said Anthony Ditka, the county’s bond counsel. “They have been talking about this for several months. We amassed a comp list of your needs and we talked about the market fluctuations.”

Other deferred maintenance that will be part of the project include the exterior of the Warren County Courthouse. Several years ago, the county undertook a project to restore the slate roof on the 1877 portion of the courthouse, as well as a painting above the roofline. While some painting was completed in-house last summer, additional work remains including brick and stone repointing on the 1877 portion as well as some of the subsequent additions (1925, 1980, 2003).

Leaks in the roof have caused mold-related issues in the jail that pose a threat to both inmates and staff.

The county invested in a new server system 10 years ago. Those devices are past the end of their useful life and in critical need of replacement.

Commissioners said the projects are the most significant and costly deferred maintenance on the county’s list.

“What you have is an ordinance that is one-stop shopping for the county,” Ditka said. “It has everything you need to authorize in order to issue your general obligation bonds.”

The bond sale is expected to generate $6.8 million. It will be paid back in the coming years by the 1.25-mill increase included in the 2025 tax bills.

“The county has reasonable cost estimates for what it has done,” Ditka said, along with a “reasonable expectation” that the funds will be spent within the next three years. “The county has gone through this in a very deliberate, thoughtful way,” Ditka said, “talking about this for several months” and developing a “comprehensive” list of needs. “This is the result of a long process that got us here.”

Warren County was last assessed in 1989. For a property last assessed at that time and found to have a $30,000 assessed value, the 1.25 mill increase represents a $37.50 increase on the 2025 tax bill. Dan Glotz, county commissioner, noted the millage amount could change as the county’s property reassessment is finalized.

“How does that impact the bond?” Glotz asked.

“We had to tie it to a millage, so we did to get to the number. That millage can change, it will still equal the number, which makes it revenue neutral,” said Tricia Durbin, county commissioner.