A new year — which begins Saturday — means a new location for several Cherokee County government offices.

The long-awaited moving day could be just around the corner for the offices of probate judge, revenue commissioner, the county commission office, the license and tag office, board of registrars and 911.

The current target date for those offices to vacate the County Courthouse in favor of the new Administration Building next to the Detention Center is Jan. 15, according to Probate Judge Kirk Day.

However, Day cautioned, that’s not a set date. It could be delayed even more.

The move — if it comes the middle of next month — will come about five months behind schedule. Day said the original plan was to make the move in August.

“They’ve just gotten behind,” Day said of the construction. “There’s nothing in the contract where they get penalized for a late finish. Why should they care?”

Day doesn’t see any problems with the short move down the street once the building is complete. “We’ll spend a couple of days moving,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a problem. It may be a little bumpy. Regardless of where we are at, there may be a day where we have to shut down. We still don’t know if it will be ready; it could be postponed.”

Once the move takes place, there will be additional space in the courthouse, but Day sees few physical changes being made. “There’ll be enough renovations to make the building a little more serviceable until the county is on better (financial) footing,” Day said. “We will not saddle the county with a hugh debt.

“Our goal is to get all the court offices to the courthouse (from the annex), the district attorney, the probation office, the judges if they have offices in the annex.”

When the administration building was planned, it called for the demolition of the annex. “Tearing down is expensive,” Day said. “Until we’re better able to financially do what we need to do with it, we’re not going to do much. Our main concern is getting moved into the new building.”

Day said there are no immediate plans to have any other agencies move out. He said the veterans affairs office will move from the annex to the courthouse, which will give veterans handicap asccess. That office will be in the basement, with veterans able to use the ramp and elevator