URBANA — Champaign County Board members will be asked to revise next year's county budget to allow for the replacement of failing audio and video systems at the 10-year-old courthouse building.

The renovations will cost an estimated $100,000, said County Administrator Deb Busey. Money for the new systems could come from $300,000 in unspent funds in the courts construction fund, she said.

The $100,000 appropriation will be discussed at a county board committee of the whole meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Brookens Administrative Center, 1776 E. Washington St., U.

Last month, Busey had suggested that the county's general corporate fund might recover enough next year to support some new programs or capital projects. She recommended spending any new money on video cameras in sheriff's department squad cars and on a troublesome sound system in courtrooms, if the county's financial situation appeared healthy enough next February.

In the meantime, though, she discovered money in the special fund.

"Three hundred thousand dollars that is in the courts construction fund is funds left over from the project and is available for courts construction-type activities," she said. "The courthouse sound system and the video arraignment system qualify."

The courthouse video system is used in only two courtrooms, Busey said, those for traffic and arraignment court.

"They are definitely failing," she said. "They have had to transport prisoners to court for arraignment because the video system wasn't working. I think we have it temporarily fixed now, but it's clear that we are not going to be able to keep these components operating. We have to replace them."

The video arraignment system is 15 years old, she said, and the audio system was installed when the new, expanded courthouse opened in 2001.

"If the board approves this, it will be in the 2012 budget, and we'll start working on a (request for proposals) right away so that we can purchase it in December or January," she said.