County holds off on building annex addition
The Winona County Board will cautiously move forward on plans for adding an addition to the county annex. The board voted 3–2 to hold off on building a $5.5 million addition to the Winona County Annex building and proceed with the design portion of the project only at a cost of $350,000. In voting to delay the complete project, Commissioners Marcia Ward and Jim Pomeroy argued that the county should wait until they know the extent of the state's budget shortfall and what effect it would have on state aid. Ward said the board's first priority is providing essential services to county taxpayers. Commissioners Jerry Heim and Dave Stoltman wanted to proceed with the entire construction project. Stoltman argued that the current market situation may be advantageous to the county. He said the project would help stimulate the local economy by creating jobs and speculated that bids may come in lower. The decision of when to build will now fall into the hands of the new county board which will consider the issue after the conclusion of the upcoming legislative session.
