Ellis Co. Commission will transfer wind farm money to pay building bills

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

The Ellis County Commission will move forward with the transfer of money from the Buckeye Wind fund to the Public Building Commission to pay for construction costs at the newly remodeled courthouse and Law Enforcement Center.

The county commission confirmed Tuesday the decision they made as the PBC at a meeting last month to transfer the $600,000 the county received for 2015 in lieu of taxes for the Buckeye Wind Project to the PBC.

According to Ellis County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes, the move allows the PBC to pay for change orders of about $140,000 dollars approved Tuesday.

The remainder of the funds will give the PBC “wiggle room,” according to Commissioner Barb Wasinger.

Wasinger said, “Since those funds aren’t spoken for at the moment, that is a great place to let them land.”

The move is necessary because sales tax collections are down in the county. There is also a timing issue with when the state distributes the sales tax dollars and when lease payments are due.

“The (lease) payment has to be made 20 days before the actual due date, and we don’t get the money from the state for the sales tax until the end of the month,” said Smith-Hanes.

Earlier this year, Ellis County Treasurer Ann Pfeifer instructed the commission to delay making payments from the sales tax fund so they could make the lease payment to the PBC, which makes the bond payments on the courthouse/Law Enforcement Center and emergency services building.

Smith-Hanes said they only other bills still unpaid deals with the elevator, and Commissioner Dean Haselhorst said there is a discrepancy with the bill. Haselhorst said there might be one more change order that will be brought before the PBC.

The county is expected to receive another $600,000 from the Buckeye Wind Project for 2016 later this year.

In other business, the commission continued its discussion on the 3-mile zone – extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Hays. The commission wants to look at possibly changing the amount of area controlled by the city and enforcement of codes within that area.

The commission also approved the landfill to purchase a new backhoe from Foley Equipment for $88,187.
Approved a lease extension with Berexco LLC for $300 for an oil and gas lease of property in the Stonewood Estates North Addition. It covers the county owned roads, alleys and rightaways in the area.
Signed a letter for the KDOT High Risk Rural Route signing project.