Sonoma County supervisors are set to reconsider the proposed purchase of an office building near the airport, with the price reduced to $49.5 million from the original $56 million. The revised proposal for 400 Aviation Boulevard follows months of union opposition, a pending state ethics investigation and a political dispute that halted the deal last year.
The roughly 132,000-square-foot building would cost $6.5 million less than initially proposed, according to The Press Democrat. County Executive David Guhin has said the revised proposal would produce significant net savings, the newspaper reported. At $49.5 million, however, the purchase price remains above the higher of two county appraisals, which valued the property at $46 million.
Sonoma County has leased the building from American AgCredit since 2024 and has already spent $4.1 million on rent, the newspaper reports. The lease included terms designed to push the county toward a purchase within five years. Under the current proposal, the building would house an emergency operations center and other county departments, and it is designed to accommodate roughly 1,700 employees, though the county would use only part of that capacity. County officials have said the original additional $10 million above the base price covered building amenities, which include energy-efficiency features, modern technology, furniture, and artwork, alongside 396 on-site parking spaces on the 7.65-acre property built in 2016.
Union Says Price Still Too High
SEIU Local 1021, described in the report as the largest Sonoma County employee union, is not convinced the lower price fixes the problem. Union president Travis Balzarini said the group does not consider the purchase a good use of county resources, and he questioned the spending amid expected federal funding cuts that are anticipated to hit Sonoma County communities next year, according to The Press Democrat. The union has said the proposed $49.5 million price remains too high and has called for greater transparency in the county's negotiations.
Board Chair Rebecca Hermosillo struck a more conciliatory tone, calling SEIU 1021 an important partner and saying the county considered the union's recommendations and suggestions in reworking the deal. She said the purchase makes sense to her while she still understands the union's concerns, the newspaper reports. SEIU Local 1021's contract with Sonoma County expires on Feb. 28, 2027.
Campaign Donation Still Under Investigation
The renewed proposal arrives with an unresolved ethics question hanging over it. Sonoma County resident Ryan Williams filed a conflict-of-interest complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission in February 2025, and that investigation remains pending, per The Press Democrat's reporting. The complaint centers on a $1,000 campaign contribution that broker Larry Wasem made to Supervisor David Rabbitt in 2024. Wasem represented American AgCredit as a broker. The complaint concerns the broker's role in the transaction.
Both Wasem and Rabbitt have denied knowingly violating campaign finance rules, and Rabbitt returned the donation, the newspaper reports. SEIU Local 1021 has argued the donation should have disqualified Rabbitt from voting on the deal under California's Levine Act, which bars local officials from participating in contract decisions if they received contributions over $500 from a party tied to the matter within the prior year, per the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Rabbitt has called the criticism uncalled for and unsupported by the facts, and he told The Press Democrat the current deal is better than the previous one. The purchase has drawn both criticism and support.
The union's objections trace back to SEIU Local 1021, which described the union's opposition to the proposed purchase in early 2025 and raised concerns about wasteful overpayment. Neither Board of Supervisors Chair James Gore nor Supervisor Lynda Hopkins were available for an interview, The Press Democrat reports. Supervisor Chris Coursey, described as the board's lone consistent hold-out, said he is now open to the purchase given its lower price, adding that his earlier objections helped produce an improved plan and price, per the same account.
Part of a Larger Campus Overhaul
The Aviation Boulevard purchase fits into a broader, multi-year effort to address deteriorating conditions at the county's central Santa Rosa administrative campus, which The Press Democrat reports suffers from leaky roofs, seismic problems, and faulty sewage systems. That campus sits about five miles south of Aviation Boulevard. The county is also weighing whether to move the server hub and emergency operations center to the new site, a shift County Executive David Guhin has said could save the county millions of dollars.
The office purchase is embedded within a $434 million campus modernization framework meant to replace the aging 1950s-era central offices, according to Sonoma Public Infrastructure. County leaders previously abandoned a $1.7 billion downtown consolidation concept because of its cost, the agency notes. The broader plan also includes technology and emergency-operations components. The county could also spend up to $22.9 million on tenant improvements at the Aviation Boulevard site, with annual utility, insurance, and operating expenses estimated at $1.5 million.
The county has already moved forward on a related piece of the puzzle. In July 2025, supervisors approved a $32 million purchase of two buildings at 3850 and 3880 Brickway Boulevard, according to Sonoma Public Infrastructure, to create an airport-area public service hub. The Sonoma County Registrar of Voters opened its new headquarters there in February 2026, becoming the first department to complete the move, per KSRO. Permit Sonoma, the Auditor-Controller-Tax Collector, and the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor are all expected to move to Brickway Boulevard by 2027. The county has not finalized plans for additional occupants at 400 Aviation Boulevard or for a smaller government building it also plans to construct on the central campus.
Fiscal and Transportation Context
The purchase would move forward amid a difficult funding outlook. According to Sonoma County's FY 2025-26 budget documents, board-adopted fiscal policies said the county would not backfill lost state and federal funds and lacked sufficient resources to replace $897 million in assumed sources. The recommended budget said federal funding accounted for almost 15%, or $335.9 million, of the proposed budget. The airport-area campus also has existing transportation connections. Sonoma Public Infrastructure says the county's Brickway buildings are about one mile from Highway 101 and close to SMART train service. The Airport SMART Station Specific Plan and EIR identified Sonoma County Transit Route 62 as the only bus route stopping within the broader planning area at the time and called for additional pedestrian infrastructure near rail crossings, according to the plan and environmental impact report.
Freeing Up Land for Housing
Shifting administrative functions to the airport-area buildings would let the county free up a large portion of its central Santa Rosa campus for residential and commercial development, an idea Hoodline reported on when the plan first advanced in Sonoma County government center plans. Earlier county plans called for allocating 9.3 acres along Mendocino Avenue for up to 1,000 housing units, according to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. The county's master government center plan includes an Environmental Impact Report Notice of Preparation, per Government Market News.
The political backdrop for the vote is shifting, too. Supervisor Rabbitt, a vocal supporter of the office acquisitions, remains part of the debate over the plan. Whether the Board of Supervisors approves the trimmed $49.5 million deal will now fall to a board facing its own transition, even as the underlying disputes over price, transparency, and campaign contributions remain unresolved.
