A new Yakima County Courthouse will not be on the ballot any time soon. Commissioners on Thursday decided instead to put a $32 million renovation plan before voters sometime next year.

The long-discussed new courthouse would have cost about $52 million and would have left county administrative offices in the existing courthouse, separating them from the actual court system.

The renovation, which would include moving county administrative offices out of the courthouse, is a less costly way to achieve that separation, the commissioners determined with help from a citizens committee.

If voters approve the measure, the administrative offices likely would move in 2013, with the renovation to follow and completion scheduled for sometime in 2015.

Separating the courts from administrative offices has been a goal for years because of the security risk posed by having criminal defendants and regular courthouse visitors -- people seeking things like building permits -- mixing in one building.

"If we fail to actually separate those functions, something is going to come back and bite this community," Commissioner Mike Leita said.

A facilities committee in 2008 recommended building a new courthouse to solve the problem. But commissioners demurred, not wanting to ask voters to foot the $60 million price tag. They formed a new committee and revisited the idea last year because the ongoing recession had created a more competitive construction-bidding environment.

"We looked at that first number and said, 'Maybe not.' ... This has been an extensive second look, and we're ready to approach the community," Leita said.

Renovating rather than building further lowers the cost.

"This is clearly the more reasonable and rational of the two plans," Commissioner Rand Elliott said. "I think the idea of a brand new building is probably out of reach right now."

Still, members of the facilities committee acknowledged Thursday that even at the $32 million level of the renovation plan, the bond issue will be a tough sell. School construction bonds have failed in several local districts over the past few years.

"There's a horrible cynicism out there (toward the government)," committee member Gayland Pedhirney said. "It's really going to take a strong marketing effort."

The commissioners as a body are unlikely to endorse the bond measure, wanting voters to make the decision, Elliott said after the meeting. Individual commissioners may join the campaign, however, along with members of the facilities committee, he said.

If the measure passes, the county will need to find new space for its auditor, assessor, treasurer and public services offices. Just where those offices would go is still up in the air, but Leita believes they could find homes downtown within a short distance from the courthouse.

"There exists ample vacant facilities in downtown Yakima," he said. "Our downtown is really a shell."

The idea that the project could fill downtown vacancies is actually something that could sway voters, said committee member David Thorner.

"It can really help the downtown area, the revitalization," he said.

* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.