AFTON – The Town of Afton will vote Feb. 7 on whether to build a new town hall in conjunction with the re-construction of the highway department garage which was destroyed in the 2006 floods.

According to Supervisor John Lawrence, the proposition will contain two parts, the first being approval to actually begin the project, which would move the town hall and court system approximately one mile outside of the village into the same building as the new garage. The second part is the approval of a private sale bond from NBT for up to $400,000.

Currently, the town has $515,000 in FEMA aid to rebuild the garage, which sustained heavy damage in 2006. There is also $215,000 available in a capital building fund, a tax line specifically for construction of town offices, said Lawrence.

The bond from NBT will be paid back over a period of 20 years at a 3.9 percent interest rate, which Lawrence assumes will come out to approximately $29,200 each year.

Lawrence said the reason for moving the town hall deals primarily with repair costs attached to the current building.

“The building has been there since 1869, and the repairs that we’d have to do to bring it to municipal code are much more expensive than what a private operator could do,” he explained.