Commissioners unanimously approved an Interlocal and Cost-Sharing Agreement between the County and The National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) to share property located on Forest Oaks Boulevard. The county will use part of the property to construct a 16,000 square foot west side Tax Collector building with a site for driving tests. (Currently, driving tests are conducted on residential roads since the closure of the Brooksville Tax Collector facility.) NAMI will construct a 6000-square-foot facility for treatment and education.
The associated resolution to the agreement was also passed 5-0. The agreement states that the 4.4-acre property owned by NAMI will be deeded to the county, and the county will construct the Tax Collector annex on that parcel.
The Hernando County Utilities Department owns the adjacent 6.7 acres, and the county will acquire this property from the Utilities Department. The two parcels together are adjacent to the Hernando County Health Department grounds.
After NAMI deeds their 4.4-acre parcel to the county, the county will be responsible for the development of the master plan and common site development and infrastructure costs. The master plan will identify a parcel to deed back to NAMI with a pad-ready building site and associated parking lot.
NAMI will be solely responsible for the design and construction of their building.
Should the county not complete the master planning or infrastructure improvements per the agreement, then the 4.4-acre parcel will be deeded back to NAMI. NAMI purchased the 4.4-acre property from the County for $10 in May of 2018. (Data from the Hernando County Property Appraiser lists this cost as $100.)
On November 29, 2022, The Board of County Commissioners awarded Straughn Trout Architects the architect/engineering contract for the Tax Collector building ($11.3 million).
The county has budgeted $11,523,000 for construction according to documentation connected to the architect/engineering bid.
Back in June 2022, the county approved borrowing $56 million for four high-profile projects, one of which was the Tax Collector building. Fifteen million dollars of the $56 million approved to be borrowed was for the Tax Collector building.
In order to develop the combined properties, the individual parcels will need to be rezoned to PDP/OP (Office Professional).
