After approving a bid for a new EMS headquarters, Leavenworth County commissioners must decide just how they want to pay for $1.57 million building.

The good news is that commissioners have options about how to pay for the headquarters to be built at the county health center, 500 Eisenhower Rd. in Leavenworth.

On Monday, commissioners awarded the construction contract for the project to Vanum Construction for $1.37 million dollars. The Kansas City, Kan., construction company was the lowest bidder for the project, and its bid was $20,000 less than the next lowest bid submitted by Harmon Construction.

A 5 percent contingency and architectural design fees is expected to add another $200,000 to the project’s cost.

The headquarters is to be finished in spring 2011.

County Administrator Heather Morgan proposed the county capital reserve account of $2.78 million be used to pay for the building. However, she also noted with $1.7 million in a general reserve account, that could be used for the project.

The second account was built over the past two years from money departments saved after 2009 county downsizing and boosted with the half-mile tax increase commissioners approved for 2010, Morgan said.

Memory of last summer’s discussions before that tax increase had two commissioners reluctant to approve Morgan’s recommendation. Commissioner John Flower said commissioners agreed to increase the mill levy because the $284,000 it would add to the county budget was to be used for the new EMS headquarters. It should be used for that purpose or the mill levy increase should be backed out of the 2011 budget, he suggested.

Commissioner J.C. Tellefson said that was his memory, too. However, he suggested the county had the options of using the two funds, borrowing the money or a combination of all three.

With the need to start paying bills on the project, it was agreed to initially designate funding from the $2.78 million capital reserve account but to study using the $1.7 reserve account to replenish the capital account alone or in combination with a loan.