BELMONT — Construction of a new firehouse cannot proceed until the village shows it is capable of paying for cost overruns.

Meanwhile, village leaders also voted to idle the community’s police department due to lack of funding.

Resident and Belmont Volunteer Fire Department member Ed Tacosik outlined the situation with the new firehouse during a regular council meeting Wednesday. He said the VFD has until the end of May to sign the contract to begin construction, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through which the village was to receive $3.4 million in federal funding to construct the new facility, determined the village does not have the finances to cover cost overages on the project.

Tacosik said the USDA funding amounted to about 75% of the total project cost with the other 25% coming from the state.

“They don’t want to release their money until we can guarantee to them that we can take care of their estimated cost overruns,” Tacosik said of the USDA, adding that if the papers aren’t signed by the end of the month, the contractor has the right to back out of the project.

Tacosik said that the village could sign an agreement with the USDA to borrow from that agency, but that process takes four to six months to complete.

Fiscal Officer Ricky Burkhead said he had been in contact with WesBanco bank to get a “letter of credit,” explaining it was not a loan but simply acknowledges that the village is “good for it.” He said this would allow the village to get the additional funding from WesBanco or the USDA when needed.

Tacosik noted the department would have its new fire engine paid off in a year and, at that point, would be able to pay for additional expenses on the firehouse project.

Council members gasped collectively when Burkhead told them the USDA had estimated the overruns at $405,000, explaining “the project came in at cost, and that ate up the contingency. We may never use the money, but I estimate we’ll need upwards of $100,000.”

Council President Derrick Cain said he thought the request was “absolutely reasonable.”

“I understand that seems like an absurd amount of money to us, but 10% contingency on a $4.5 million project, that’s totally acceptable,” Cain said.

Tacosik agreed, but he said the issue was how late in the process organizers learned about it.

Councilwoman Sarah Scott asked if there were any design elements that could be changed or delayed to mitigate potential overruns. Tacosik said that had been discussed.

Council approved Cain’s motion that Burkhead continue working to obtain the letter of credit.

Meanwhile, Mayor Ron Woods announced that the personnel and finance committees had met recently and concluded that the village should temporarily “idle” its police department due to lack of funding, adding that the village would have to file paperwork with the Ohio Supreme Court to idle mayor’s court as well.

“It will be easy for us to restart it should we ever decide to do so, but this is the proper way to do it,” he said, adding that the mayor’s court clerk was in the process of closing out any remaining cases.

“We have to idle it for now until we find either an additional funding source or potentially pass a levy,” Cain said.

In November, residents soundly voted down a proposed 3.5-mill levy that was to be used to fund the police department as well as for cemetery upkeep and maintenance. A 1.5-mill cemetery upkeep levy was approved by voters 28-22 during last Tuesday’s election.

Scott said residents needed to know who to contact if they need police. Burkhead said they should do the same thing they do now, “call 911.” The Belmont County Sheriff’s Department provides police protection when no village officers are on duty.

After a motion passed unanimously to idle the police department and mayor’s court, Woods asked for council to accept Police Chief Andrew Miller’s resignation, noting that he was pretty sure Miller was resigning from the other departments he serves on as well.

Woods said that all the village’s police department-related inventory had been secured and logged.

While discussing the possibility of placing a police levy on November’s ballot, Burkhead suggested it be presented as a replacement to the old police levy, which only generates $7,000 per year. Cain agreed that would empower the people to decide.

Burkhart said to fund a part-time department, the village would need a levy to generate about $25,000 annually with an additional $5,000-$10,000 coming from fines. He later concluded that a 3-mill levy would accomplish that.

Woods said he would like to speak to officials from neighboring Bethesda to see if they could work something out where Bethesda’s department could answer Belmont calls.

In other business, Board of Public Affairs President Ken Davis informed council that village wells had produced 93% of the water used in the village during April, and he thanked residents for their cooperation while village crew had been running the street sweeper recently.

Council approved renewal of the fire protection contract with Goshen Township, with Burkhead saying that brings in roughly $95,000 annually.

Council also discussed upcoming Memorial Day observances, announcing the parade line-up would be at 8:30 a.m. at the Belmont school grounds. The parade steps off at 9 a.m., and a service will be held at Belmont Cemetery at the parade’s conclusion around 9:30 a.m.

Belmont Village Council meets at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month in the Stanley Sobel Village Offices on Brown Street.