County Sets Stage For Office Moves

Van Zandt County plans to approve certificates of obligation to reimburse the county’s general fund after the purchase of the former Canton Police Department building last month.

A resolution to that effect was approved Tuesday in the Van Zandt County Commissioners’ Court meeting.

"We have to show we intend to borrow the money to pay for the building purchase and renovations, and that we will reimburse our general fund from those borrowed funds," Koches explained.

The county’s purchase of the one-time police station on South Buffalo Street, which was the Canton Post Office before that, was closed on Oct. 15 for $260,000.

Koches confirmed Tuesday that plans are to move the District Attorney’s office to that location and move the county tax assessor/collector’s office and vehicle registration operations to the current DA’s office.

That will free space for the new county court-at-law that must be established by Jan. 1, 2011, with a judge for that court elected next November.

Koches said the planned certificates of obligation will be enough to also cover necessary renovations to all three buildings.

"We want to put it all into one (issuance) to avoid paying additional issuance costs that would be added if we obtained certificates of obligation separately for each project," she said.

Cost estimates for each project are being calculated, Koches said.