Benton County Holding Open Houses for New Government Center

FOLEY (WJON News) -- Benton County residents are invited to a series of open houses for a proposed new government center.

The first open house will be Wednesday at the Sauk Rapids Government Center from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

More open houses are scheduled at the Benton County Board room on April 16th and at Rice City Hall on April 17th.

The county is proposing building a nearly $30-million government center on land they've acquired across the street from the current government center. County officials say the existing government center is in dire need of costly repairs and is at capacity.

The cost of renovating the existing complex is estimated to be about the same as that of a new facility, and it wouldn't add any additional space.

A new government center would include a dedicated space and drive-thru for the DMV, a larger county board room, room for growth, and state-of-the-art technology.

There will also be tours of the existing government center from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on April 16th and again on May 6th.

The county plans to pay for the project through property taxes.