Buchanan County paid off courthouse renovation loans early, saving the county about $13,000.

According to Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Harry Roberts, the courthouse renovations started in 2012 and were completed toward the end of 2013. The county borrowed the money needed for the $10 million project from one of the local banks and had been paying it off by $135,000 per quarter. Roberts said they knew this year they were going to only have to make three payments to complete the loan and decided that, since the budget allowed, they would pay it off early to save interest.

Roberts said when they called to get the payoff to pay it off early, it came in even less as it was written up similar to a construction loan.

“When the county was doing the project, they didn’t draw the whole $2 million at one time, they only drew to pay the bills as the renovation took place,” Roberts said.

He said the renovations on the courthouse included mostly exterior work on tuckpointing, columns and approximately 240 windows.

“It’s an old building, a lot of history there, but it’s in good shape and we’ll keep taking care of it,” Roberts said.

He said there’s a grant program offered by the state to help with upkeep of historic courthouses and they plan to apply to help with replacing the east elevator. Roberts said also up next is work on the heating and cooling system and that will most likely be a project for 2018.