photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.

The postponement of a $55 million bond sale for Douglas County’s major public safety construction projects will not affect those projects’ timelines, the county administrator said on Wednesday.

At this week’s Douglas County Commission meeting, county staff briefed commissioners on the decision to postpone the sale of bonds for renovations to the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center and construction of the new Public Safety Building. The decision to postpone was made after the county’s bond group warned that a lack of interest among institutional investors could drive up interest rates on the debt by 0.15% to 0.20%.

County staff also had concerns about the high level of uncertainty surrounding the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday. The committee – which is the policy-setting body of the Federal Reserve – announced that the target range for the federal funds rate would remain unchanged between 4.25% and 4.5%.

A memo to the commission said the plan right now is to publish a revised notice of sale on May 15, with a public sale scheduled to occur on May 21. The new closing date for the bonds would be on June 11.

County Administrator Sarah Plinsky told the Journal-World that while she can’t predict how the bond market will be in the next couple of weeks, there are no major events scheduled for the new bond sale date, “so we hope it will be better,” she said.

Even if bond market conditions remain unstable in the coming weeks, Plinsky told the Journal-World, the county has some flexibility and could reschedule the sale again. She said the county has roughly a one- to two-month window in which the bond sale could be scheduled, if it were to come to that.

Plinsky added that the delay would not affect the project’s progress or timeline.

“There’s no impact on the timeline of the project because we have the cash that we’re using upfront to offset it,” Plinsky said. “So the cash that we have on hand is supporting the project until we’re able to issue (the bond sale).”

As the Journal-World reported, county commissioners approved the approximately $55 million bond sale to support the projects in April. The county will also use $25 million in cash reserves for the construction. County staff has previously said the projects will be funded without increasing taxes.

The Associated Press reported that U.S. bond markets have become volatile since President Donald Trump introduced his tariffs, with a wave of Treasury bond selling pushing the 10-year yield from 4.01% to 4.58% in one week. Municipal bond yields can also rise as investors, wary of recession risks and federal fiscal policies, demand higher returns, which in turn could raise borrowing costs for local governments.

The memo to commissioners about the bonds included credit rating information from global financial services company Moody’s. Douglas County has an Aa1 credit rating, which is the second highest rating Moody’s assigns, meaning the county is considered to have a strong ability to meet its financial obligations. The debt levels will remain manageable even after issuing new bonds, the memo said, and the adjustment of the sale date will not affect the county’s rating.

The JLEC building — home to the District Court, District Attorney’s Office, emergency communications, Sheriff’s Office, IT department, and maintenance staff — is currently expanding on the south side to include additional courtrooms, judges’ chambers, conference rooms and other vital facilities. Meanwhile, the Public Safety Building, situated near the Douglas County Jail, will become the main headquarters for the Sheriff’s Office, 911 dispatch and emergency management services.

In other business, county commissioners:

• Approved a one-year site plan extension for Veritas Christian School to construct an expanded parking area to accommodate participants, coaches and spectators attending sporting events at the existing sports facility at 960 East 1296 Road.

A memo in the agenda said the extension was needed because the original site plan approval was expiring and the school lacked sufficient parking for sporting events held at the gymnasium.

The school has decided to not move forward with building classrooms on the site after discovering a flowage easement, a legal restriction tied to potential flooding that complicates construction. This issue had not been identified within the original plans, which resulted in delays to completing the classrooms in time for the school year. As a result, the school leased classroom space at River City Church in Lawrence, where it continues to hold academic classes.

• Authorized county staff to accept the 2025 S.T.O.P. Violence Against Women Act federal grant funding in the amount of $31,145. The grant supports the salary and benefits to maintain the part-time advocacy and outreach specialist, who follows up with domestic violence victims after law enforcement contact and refers them to various services, at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

The total position costs $41,527, with 75% coming from federal funding with a 25% non-federal match, according to a memo in the agenda.

• Approved a $1,000 payment to compensate a landowner for tree loss related to a Public Works department project to replace a culvert on North 100 Road in Willow Springs Township.