Hearing on courthouse financing Thursday

The first courtroom in Douglas County was accessed by climbing a ladder on the outside of John Reese’s trading post in the 1850s, according to a history of the Town of Genoa.

On Thursday, Douglas County commissioners will hold a public hearing on the issuance of $51 million in bonds to build a new courthouse, the fourth built expressly for the purpose in county history.

Commissioners meet 10 a.m. in the historic Douglas County Courthouse, built after a 1915 act of the Legislature when the county seat was moved to Minden. At the time, the county was still paying for reconstruction of the Genoa Courthouse, which was all but destroyed in the fire of 1910.

The new courthouse would be built on land purchased from Park Ranch Holdings for $5 million last year.

For the past 40 years, Douglas County has held court in the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center in Minden. The center was built after legal challenges over conditions at the former jail, which was located in the basement of the 1916 courthouse just below where commissioners will meet on Thursday.

Voters approved bonds to pay for the new structure, which was designed to provide expansion of offices, but left three courtrooms on the second floor.

Even if voters were inclined to approve the financing for a new courthouse, there wouldn’t be room in the $3.64 tax cap, county Bond Consultant Marty Johnson said in November.

The largest source of income to finance the courthouse is the county’s consolidated tax rate, which includes sales tax.

That source is currently paying off the Carson Valley Community & Senior Center and is raising around $2.5 million a year.

That could raise $37 million with $5.4 million in interest and bring the county’s total debt to $79.44 million at 5.4 percent a year.

Consolidated tax collections have increased an average of 8 percent each year since 2017. The current debt service on the community center is $730,000 through 2033. Johnson said that at 2.1 percent interest on that loan, it would be better to leave that alone for now because the county is earning more than the $750,000 a year it costs to serve the debt.

A new courthouse isn’t the only major expenditure the county faces over the next few years.

Bids on construction of Muller Parkway, which the county is obligated to build by the end of 2025 are expected to be advertised soon.