By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

HELENA – Ever since the city of Helena broke ground on the construction of a new city hall in May, residents have raised concerns over the large project, questioning how the city would afford the $18 million price tag.

Some residents have voiced their questions publicly, such as JR Adams at a recent city council meeting.

“Where’s the money?” Adams said. “Audit the books. Tell us how much you’ve spent.”

In total, the city of Helena has spent around $3 million dollars on the Helena Forward Project since the City Council unanimously approved Mayor Brian Puckett to enter into negotiations for the Helena Forward Project on Oct. 25, 2021.

The City Council then unanimously passed a resolution to authorize the development of the project on July 11, 2022.

According to a statement issued by the city, when Puckett and the current City Council took office, each year, the Council used 75 percent of the revenues from the previous year when creating the city’s general fund budget which allowed the city to accumulate a reserve fund of $4.5 million.

“The reserve account is not some magical, mythical account,” Puckett said. “It’s just a separate account that we transfer money from the general fund when we have a surplus into that reserve account. (This city is) conservative with budgeting to make sure that we do have that extra money sitting aside so that when something does break, we’re ready to take care of it.”

Since beginning the process of developing the new city hall, the city has spent around $3 million on the project, depleting the reserve fund to around $1.8 million according to Puckett.

The city is currently in the process of closing $45 million in bonds to reimburse the money the city has already spent on the project and to finance the construction of both the city hall project and the new sports and leisure complex.

“As soon as (the bond) closes, the underwriting firm for the bonds is going to directly wire the money directly back into the reserve account,” Puckett said. “It’s always great to have a reserve, so that’s going to get completely replenished.”

Some residents have questioned why the city has spent so much on this project prior to receiving the money from the bonds. Puckett shared that this is due to the fact that the city needed to have the city hall land parcel deeded over to this city prior to the sale of the bond.

Bond negotiation will occur during the month of September. Puckett hopes to have the bonds closed by Friday, Sept. 27.

Throughout this process, many residents have questioned whether or not Helena even needs a new city hall in the first place.

Puckett shared that the current city hall—constructed in 1994—is already cramped and can no longer provide the space needed for future growth.

“We have to have more people running the city,” Puckett said. “Simply because we have 25,000 residents, and you can’t have five people running all of that for administration. But there’s no place to put anybody here. The revenue director is in a makeshift closet office. You have the city clerk whose office is in the fire department. The space is not here for us.”

In addition to a community hub with a dedicated senior citizen area, the new city hall will have offices for Administration, the Utility Department and all department heads. The second floor will feature the traditional Council Chambers and the third floor interior will be empty, allowing the city to convert that space into whatever it needs at a later date.

According to Puckett, the idea was to construct a building designed to keep pace with Helena’s growth.

“Yes, we need the space, but let’s go in and build it so that we would never have to build a city hall again,” Puckett said. “We made sure that we thought about how the growth was going to be not only next year, but also in 50 years from now.”

Those interested in learning more about the Helena Forward Project can visit Cityofhelena.org/helena-forward for more information, including building renderings, construction contracts and invoices.