This online news website is owned and operated by Becky Watts. The Editor can be reached at 770-468-7583 or at editor(at)PikeCountyTimes(dot)com. Pike County Times is a website for citizens to keep up with local events and stay informed about Pike County government. It began on November 13, 2006 as a watchdog on county government and has turned into an online newspaper.
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By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - According to the Report on Projects Funded Through Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) Through June 30, 2012, the current SPLOST Project stands as follows: Courthouse Renovation stands at $3,200,000 current estimated cost and Roads, Streets, and Bridges stands at $2,200,000 current estimated cost. Click here to view June 30, 2012 Report.
The original estimated cost for the Courthouse Renovation was $2,500,000 and $2,900,000 for Roads, Streets, and Bridges. According to the June 30, 2012 SPLOST Report, $1,342,643.63 has been spent on the Courthouse Renovation. Since this time, the Courthouse Renovation was amended to add a 30 foot addition to the 11,000 square foot Courthouse. Click here to read from the Pike County Courthouse Restoration SPLOST Project Meeting in June of 2011.
Click here to read about other changes that have taken place on this project since its passage and the meeting in which these changes were discussed. Comments from citizens are also here for review from this December 14, 2011 Commission meeting. Click here to read where the decision was made to go with a bid of $2.67 million was made in the January 11, 2012 meeting. This amount does not include the replacement of the 1995 heating and air units which did not respond well to being moved for this courthouse project. Click here to read in the April 11, 2012 meeting where commissioners chose to add $220,000 to the Courthouse project for replacement of HVAC units and new ductwork. In this meeting, commissioners chose to replace the HVAC units and ductwork and go with a composite roof on the courthouse. At this time, they chose to go with composite shingles instead of the metal roof, but the metal roof was voted back into the project at a later meeting for a cost of $77,000.
Voters passed the current SPLOST in 2011 through a majority of voters determining that a SPLOST for one cent would be charged throughout the county for a period of five years to raise an estimated $5,400,000 for these two projects as well as the costs associated with the interest and debt on the General Obligation Debt needed to fund the Courthouse project to completion. According to the Notice of Election, the Courthouse was listed first with Roads, Streets, and Bridges second. Click here to see the Notice of Election.
Throughout the often heated discussions about the courthouse, commissioners have worked and voted together to try to do the best thing for the people of the county with the renovation of our courthouse. Some people agree with the project wholeheartedly. Some people disagree just as vehemently. And some are just glad that the project is nearing completion with a courthouse that should serve our purposes here for some time to come. Pictures from the project will show just how far the Pike County Courthouse has come from beginning to its near completion now.
Right: From the District Attorney's office upstairs across from the Courtroom. Changes were made from May to October of 2012.
And Courtroom Before and After Pictures.
