A plan to remodel the county’s Public Safety Building is moving forward without a Joint Services intergovernmental agreement.

In separate votes Wednesday, the County Board’s Finance Committee, Judiciary and Law Committee and Building and Grounds Committee voted in favor of a resolution removing the intergovernmental agreement as a contingency for moving forward with issuing more than $15 in bonds for the remodeling project.

The Finance Committee voted 4-0; Judiciary and Law, 2-1; and Building and Grounds, 3-1 in approving the resolution. The measure will go before the full County Board Tuesday.

The city police and county sheriff’s services, as well as a shared dispatch center, are all housed in the Public Safety Building, 1000 55th St. The city currently leases space for the police department in the building.

The intergovernmental agreement, which stipulates how much the city and county pay for the center and associated services, has been in negotiations since September, and Supervisor Terry Rose said he wondered why it hasn’t been hammered out.

“We’ve got to come to some agreement because of the fiscal impact on the 2010 budget,” Rose said.

Supervisors voted to remove the contingency for the agreement, with a friendly amendment by Supervisor Mark Molinaro stating that the County Board remained confident that an agreement “beneficial to all city and county taxpayers will be reached.”

According to Finance Director Dave Geertsen, with the agreement, the city would have a slight advantage in its share of costs. The county would pay equity each year that would increase annually over time. The county would also receive a debt service payment from the city of about the same amount, with a slight increase to the levy, but essentially resulting in breaking even under the current county levy cap.

Without the agreement, the debt service would not be funded by the city. However, the costs would be recouped by increasing rent for the Public Safety Building, resulting in the decrease in the levy.

County Board Chairman Joe Clark said the analysis was needed to answer the question of costs to both sides.

“The purpose of lifting the contingency is to take advantage of the construction season,” Clark said.

He added improved 911 services could be delivered because they have been “under stress and duress for years.”

Before the meeting, County Executive Jim Kreuser said he is is confident the city and county will be able to reach an agreement within the next couple of weeks.

But he is asking the County Board for the go-ahead to pursue bonding now to keep the project timeline on track.

“We want to move forward, obviously, on the building,” Kreuser said. “We have a tight time frame for the project to take advantage of the Wisconsin construction season, to get it closed in by the winter. And removing the (agreement) as a contingency is (needed) ... to get the project started.”

As for why the city and county have yet to seal the deal — officials from both sides for months have said they are close to an agreement — Kreuser said issues ranging from the Chrysler plant closure to area floods have tied up administrative time and resources.

Kreuser also said it is important for both sides to make sure the agreement is workable, as it will be in place for decades.

And what if the two sides cannot come to terms on a new deal?

“We would return to the present agreement and adjust the city’s rent for police if necessary,” he said. “But I really don’t see it coming to that.”