FAYETTEVILLE - A reality-based drug court TV show won’t continue filming at the Washington County Historic Courthouse because federal law prohibits long-term rental in the building.
Producers of “Last Shot with Judge Gunn,” and any other private business or public entity cannot rent space longer than 50 days at the courthouse at 4 S. College Ave., according to federal regulations governing tax-exempt bonds used to finance the building’s renovations. Only the county can use the building for long periods of time.
The 50-day cap applies during the lifetime of the debt owed by the county to renovate the historic courthouse. As a result, the option to rent out vacant office space will be delayed, said Washington County Judge Marilyn Edwards.
By The Numbers
Statistics About Tax-Exempt Bonds
-More than 25,000 tax-exempt bonds generated nearly $446.2 billion in proceeds during 2009.
-More than $340.7 billion in governmental bond proceeds funded public projects such as schools, transportation infrastructure, and utilities in 2009.
Source: Internal Revenue Service
“Once we found that out, we had to start looking at things from a different perspective,” Edwards said. “I’d love to have the building completely full ... but we have to follow the law.”
The syndicated drug court show features former Washington County Circuit Judge Mary Ann Gunn. Producers filmed the show every other weekend from June 2011 to January 2012, Gunn said.
Gunn said they did not reach the 50-day cap, but did not have enough days left for a third season.
“I was incredibly proud we were able to film in the courthouse for the time that we did, because it’s a lovely courtroom and the county put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the building,” Gunn said.
Gunn also said the show’s producers were searching other locations, including the Fayetteville City Council chambers, for a new season because the acoustics in the historic courtroom were not good enough for production sound systems.
County officials must wait almost a decade, the life of the existing bond debt, before it can earn revenue from renting the vacant office space or any other space at the courthouse, said George Butler, county attorney.
The county can allow the use of the building for events, such as weddings, and charge users for security and cleanup and require people insure the space for any possible damage, he said, as long as the group stays within the 50-day cap, Butler said.
The county reopened the historic courthouse in 2010. It used $5.6 million from tax-exempt bonds issued in 2008 for renovations.
Last year, the Quorum Court approved refinancing the remaining $2.2 million debt to be paid off in nine years, said Bob Wright, senior managing director at Crews & Associates. The refinancing will save the county $468,000, Wright said.
Local governments often choose tax-exempt bonds to help finance major projects because the bonds appeal to some investors, said Dennis Hunt, senior vice president of Stephens Inc.
“The federal and state government have provided statutes or legislation that allow municipal governments to issue bonds so that the investor does not pay federal income tax on interest earnings,” said Hunt.
The downside, Hunt said, are strict regulations on the use of the project the money was used for.
A similar question arose this month during a Fayetteville City Council discussion regarding the proposed parking deck at the corner of Spring Street and West Avenue, Hunt said.
David Jergens, utilities director, said commercial store fronts could not be included in deck designs because the parking deck is being built with tax-exempt bond financing.
Most of the space in the historic courthouse is used by the county’s archives department and Circuit Court Division IV, which runs the county’s drug court, said Ron Wood, buildings and grounds director.
Wood said the building has three rooms on various floors capable of holding two-to-three desks each. Edwards said the county will continue to use the building for its own purposes.
Gunn said her television program worked with about 200 people on probation for drug-related offenses. They received counseling and rehabilitation services through Ozark Guidance Center, she said. She hopes producers will find a location for the show to continue helping local people.
“A final decision won’t be made for another 45 days whether filming will occur in Northwest Arkansas,” Gunn said.