“Pay me now or pay me later” is the old saw many of us remember from the Fram oil-filter television commercials of decades past.

The Kane County Board on Tuesday took a first look at a comprehensive, five-year plan to implement capital projects, review priorities for all its buildings, outline key components for facility improvements and provide a “comprehensive maintenance program” to make sure the county doesn’t get into a position of “paying later” for costly repairs.

Operations Staff Executive Don Biggs and Facility Operations Manager Mary Remiyac presented a report Tuesday that proposed, among other initiatives, a “life-safety survey” to uncover facility deficiencies and a “roof-management survey” to gather cost estimates for replacing or repairing the roofing of every Kane County building.

Kane County buildings include but are not limited to:

• Building’s A through E at the Kane County Government Center, 719 Batavia Ave., Geneva.
• The Third Street Courthouse, 100 S. 3rd St., Geneva.
• The Circuit Court Clerk / Traffic Court at 530 / 540 Randall Rd., St. Charles.
• Buildings at the Kane County Judicial Center, 37W777 Route 38, St. Charles, that include the Adult Justice Center, the Sheriff’s Office and the Juvenile Justice Center.
• The office of the Regional Office of Education, in the former Sixth Street School in Geneva.

The initial draft of the plan outlines tasks for each year, from 2014 to 2018. Additional discussion by County Board members is expected to follow Tuesday’s presentation.

“While these are fluid plans, the 2014 capital projects have already been approved by the Kane County Board for completion and have been budgeted,” Biggs said in his PowerPoint presentation.

Some of the 2014 projects that have been completed or are in progress include:

• Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning upgrades at the Judicial Center.
• Boiler replacement at the Judicial Center.
• A new roof for the building at 401 Campbell Street (behind the Third Street Courthouse).
• Front-porch replacement for Building G, the yellow house at the Kane County Government Center.
• The Kane County Sheriff’s Office certification shooting range project.
• Water heater replacement at the Kane County Jail.
• Kitchen boiler trap replacement at the jail.
• Parking-lot striping and crack-filling at three Kane County office parking lots.
• Exterior seal coating of the entire Kane County Courthouse on Third Street.
• A 60-ton air-conditioning rooftop unit at the Juvenile Justice Center.
• Cooling-tower replacement at the Judicial Center.
• Replacement of the roof for the board room in Building A of the Government Center.

On the schedule but still under review for 2014 is:

• Judicial Center carpet and furniture
• A Third Street Courthouse elevator project
• Regional Office of Education facility maintenance
• A walk-in refrigerator at the Coroner’s Office
• A morgue freezer at the Coroner’s Office
• IT computers, printers and phones
• Development Department vehicles
• One State’s Attorney’s Office automobile
• Supervisor of Assessments office furniture

The board-approved projects totalling $6,499,940, but the estimated cost to date is $5,824,545.

Part of that savings is the certification range, which was approved at nearly $1.9 million but has an estimated cost of $1.07 million.