The Ward County Commission has been down this road before, and the results haven't been good.
Commissioners have grappled with a need for more office space and plans to remodel the Ward County Courthouse for years. They've tried different approaches, from considering purchasing office buildings around town to leasing office space to putting a proposal to build a new structure before the voters. And still the space problem persists.
Now, commissioners have a new plan. They hope to put a proposal on the November ballot to create a half-cent sales tax to fund a new building and remodeling work on the courthouse.
They have much work to do before then. If commissioners expect voters to support a tax increase for a building project, they must first inform voters of the details, size, cost and scope of the entire project.
How big will the building be? What offices will be located there? How would the courthouse be remodeled? How long would the project take to complete? How much would the project cost? How much money would the sales tax raise, and how long would it need to be in effect?
Those questions, and more, will be asked by the public, and commissioners need to have information readily available. Voters have in the recent past rejected similar office building plans put forth by the commission. If the commission expects different results come November, it has a lot of work to do.