Lancaster County must pay about $7.8 million in additional compensation to the former owner of the building at 150 N. Queen St., which the county took by eminent domain in 2004, paying $8.3 million for it.

A three-member "board of view" that reviewed the case ordered the county to pay the extra amount to Dr. Ira Trocki of Ventnor City, N.J.

The ruling was delivered Monday to county solicitor Don Lefever.

The ruling stems from an appeal Trocki filed in federal court over the money he received for the building in December 2004.

Trocki maintained the building was worth much more.

"Obviously, I would prefer the taxpayers didn't have to pick up the additional amount for this, but I don't get to make that decision," Commissioner Craig Lehman said.

Commissioner Scott Martin said he expected the county would have to pay Trocki more money for the building, but he didn't expect it would be nearly $8 million more.

"When I heard that number, my jaw dropped," he said. "As a taxpayer, I can feel that 'ouch.' "

The county is renovating the building, which will be used for offices.

With the various cost overruns that have plagued the project and the additional amount now owed Trocki, county administrator Mark Esterbrook estimated the total cost to buy and renovate the building is about $50 million. That is double the $25 million cost projected by the former board of commissioners when they took the property.

"We're stuck with this building," Martin said. "A lot of taxpayer investment has been put into it already, and we're obligated to finish it, so we can't walk away from it."

The three current commissioners all expressed frustration that they "inherited" the 150 N. Queen St. project from the former commissioners — Dick Shellenberger, Pete Shaub and Molly Henderson.

But only Martin came close to blaming the former commissioners for the county's current troubles with the building.

"I think this was a poor decision from the get-go," he said. "I think we could have accommodated the county's space needs without going this route.

"I can be upset for a moment, but we can't worry about the past now. I have to go to work tomorrow and do what's best for the taxpayers."

Henderson declined to comment on the board of view's ruling, saying she needed more information.

Lefever said either party can appeal the ruling, but the commissioners have not yet discussed if they want to take that route.

Neither Trocki or his attorney could immediately be reached Monday for comment.

When the former county commissioners decided to take the building at 150 N. Queen St. by eminent domain, they offered Trocki the average of three assessments of its value, which was $8.3 million.

Trocki, who paid $12 million for the property in 1998, appealed that price in federal court.

According to Lefever, such an appeal doesn't have to be heard in court if both parties can agree to have a board of view review the case.

The county and Trocki agreed to have local developer Dwight Wagner, retired businessman Calvin Levis and attorney Jim Thomas serve as the board members to keep the appeal out of court, Lefever said.

The board last week heard testimony from both parties over the course of a few days.

During that proceeding, Lefever said, Trocki offered testimony that he had two verbal offers to buy the building for $15 million.

One was from local businessmen Patrick Egan and John Meeder, who wanted to subdivide the building into office condominiums.

Lefever said the county's appraisers at the time didn't assign any value to the building based on those verbal offers.

In testimony last month, however, Lefever said representatives from one of the county's appraisers — Weinstein Realty Advisers of York — said the verbal offers should have been factored into the building's appraised value.

Lefever said the firm testified the building's appraisal should have been about $11 million.

The board ruled the county should have paid Trocki $14.5 million in 2004.

In addition to the $6.2 million difference between the 2004 purchase price and the new appraised value, Lefever said the county also was ordered to pay Trocki interest on the difference.

That raised the amount owed Trocki to $7.8 million.

"I'm disappointed it's that high," said Dennis Stuckey, chairman of the commissioners. "It's going to put a serious strain on anything we were going to do over there this year, but it's something we inherited, and we have to deal with it."

Esterbrook said the county does not have an extra $7.8 million in the budget this year. He said the county likely will have to float a bond.

"Whatever our obligation is, of course we will meet it," he said.

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com