Law to fund rebuilding of York County courthouse takes effect Friday

AUGUSTA — A new state law that provides $65 million for the construction of a new York County courthouse will take effect on Friday, July 29.

“I can’t wait to see the groundbreaking for this new facility,” said Sen. Linda Valentino, D-Saco, who sponsored the new law. “This upgrade is a great benefit to our community. It will loosen the bottleneck in our system, where too few cases were being tried simply for lack of room.”

The law also creates a “York County Courthouse Site Selection Commission,” which will deliberate on where the new courthouse should be located. The commission will include a bipartisan group of local lawmakers, county officials, judicial officials, law enforcement, local attorneys and designees of the governor.

“Our citizens deserve a modern facility to keep up with the times. The courthouse we have now, which was designed for the nineteenth century, has slowed the judicial process down considerably, and creates needless safety hazards as well,” said Sen. Valentino, citing exposed wires and the lack of a barrier between prisoners and those in the courthouse on other business. “I am proud to have helped to find a solution to this problem for the people of York County.”

The new courthouse will be funded through a Government Facilities Bond worth up to $95.6 million, which will also fund improvements at judicial facilities in Waldo and Oxford counties.