Lane County voters will decide in May whether to fund a new
courthouse. The Elections office certified ballot title language for
measure 20-299 this week.
The 20-year, $154 million bond will provide more than half
the funds officials say are needed to build a new Lane County
Courthouse. The county hopes to secure an additional $94 million
from the state. Commissioner Jay Bozievich says Lane is at the
top of the state’s priority list for courthouse funding for what will
be a quarter of a billion dollar project.
“That $252 million dollars is the entire project cost from
purchasing the land from the city all the way through purchasing
the furniture and everything in between." Bozievich says, "Architecture,
engineering, it even includes some contingencies and inflation
escalation.”
Bozievich says the bond will cost 27 cents per 1000 assessed
value of a home. About 4 dollars a month for the average Lane
County homeowner. The new courthouse would be sited on the
empty lot that used to house the Eugene city hall.
