The Manitowoc County Executive Committee is moving forward with some of the Manitowoc County Courthouse restoration project.
County Board Chairman Tyler Martell says a resolution passed by the committee would authorize the borrowing of $4 million to fund the replacement of the courthouse HVAC system and windows.
County Executive Bob Ziegelbauer tells Seehafer News that that’s down from $5 million they were discussing borrowing and is saving the county about $1.75 million in costs.
But the next step Ziegelbauer is still very concerned about is implementing a sales tax to pay for the dome project.
He stated that he will veto any resolution that involves raising the sales tax because he says the county doesn’t need it.
“It’s an excuse,” he said sharply. “People from time to time bring up the sales tax because we need a super majority of 19 out of 25 to borrow money and they’re holding the rest of us hostage.”
Martell says the discussion would be about implementing a 0.5% sales tax to pay for the dome restoration.
It’s been a point of contention for members of the board and caused the failure of a resolution to borrow $7.5 million for the entire project.
The next step for borrowing the $4 million is to send it to the Finance Committee before it goes to the full board for a vote.
Ziegelbauer says he believes there should be enough votes for this to pass.
