Bainbridge council to amend 2019 budget to pay for purchase of Harrison medical clinic building

The Bainbridge Island City Council will look at amending its adopted 2019 budget to include $6.9 million for the purchase of the Harrison Bainbridge Urgent Care building on Madison Avenue.

The city plans to renovate the building so it can be used as a combination police station/municipal court.

Officials said the change is needed because the 2019-20 adopted biennial budget did not include funding for the proposed property purchase.

The ordinance for the budget amendment noted that was due “to uncertainty related to which site would be selected for purchase” as the location for the new police station/municipal court.

In January, however, the city council voted to allow City Manager Morgan Smith to sign a “letter of intent” to buy the medical clinic building at 8804 Madison Ave.

The city will pay Harrison Medical Center approximately $8.9 million for the property.

The letter of intent was signed by Morgan and Ian G. Worden, chief operating officer for Harrison Medical Center, on Jan. 29.

The change to the Bainbridge budget will not increase the previously presented budgeted amount for the new public safety building, city officials said.

The proposed budget amendments would add $6 million to the city’s general fund expenditures for this year, and another $600,000 to the budgeted Real Estate Excise Tax Fund for 2019.

The police station/municipal court project has an overall budget of $20 million.

A total of $3.1 million in general fund money has been budgeted for the project in prior years.

The total $20 million in the budget 2019/20 budget includes $5 million in 2019 and another $5 million in 2020 for long-term debt for the project.

The Bainbridge council will talk about the budget amendments at its meeting Tuesday, March 12.