AUBURN - Could Auburn City Court be looking for a new home in the near future?

Officials from the city and Cayuga County are currently negotiating the lease for use of the Historic Post Office on Genesee Street, and they are not seeing eye-to-eye on the price of rent. The city currently rents space on the first floor from the county to house its municipal court at a rate of $11.80 per square foot, per year. The county Legislature's Public Works Committee has proposed to raise the rate to $14, according to Public Works Chairman David Axton.

However, city officials recently counter-offered with a lower rate that the committee has not accepted, Axton said. Now the two entities are stuck in negotiations with the city's budget approaching in June.

County legislators on the committee discussed the negotiations in executive session Tuesday during a public works meeting.

Axton said after the meeting that he does not see the county moving far from the proposed rate. However, he does believe that there will eventually be an agreement, Axton said.

“I think any time you are trying to save your own taxpayers' money, you are being reasonable,” he said. “But with energy costs skyrocketing and maintenance and labor costs, the square-foot price just didn't meet our expenses.”

City Manager Mark Palesh said Tuesday that he thinks the city and county leadership will be able to solve the issue both quickly and amicably.

“They have our counter proposal, and I feel that we'll come up with something both parties will feel comfortable with,” Palesh said.

County Legislative Chairman Roger Mills expressed a similar opinion Tuesday after the public works meeting.

“I'm sure we'll come to an agreement. It is just a matter of what the dollar amount will be,” Mills said.

But the Historic Post Office is an old building that costs a lot to heat and maintain, Axton said, and the county “can't lose money on that building.”

If it was to become vacant, the space used by the city would not stay empty for long, Axton added. It would likely be used for county departments and organizations, as many of the department facilities are over-crowded as it is, he said.

“I don't want that to happen,” Axton said “I think we just need a fair agreement that everybody can live by and sleep by.”

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.