Before Archuleta Commissioners Steve Wadley, Ronnie Maez and Alvin Schaaf voted, on Tuesday February 5, to put Archuleta County taxpayers $13 million in debt to fund the construction of a new County Jail, a few local Republican Party leaders had stepped up to the microphone and encouraged them to make exactly that decision. Those Republican leaders included Sheriff Rich Valdez, Republican Party chair Marilyn Harris, Republican Party vice chair Deborah Van Gundy, and Archuleta County Republican Women president Carol Mellberg.
We will note that all three Commissioners are also registered as Republicans.
The BOCC also voted to allocate a 15% ‘contingency’ amount from the County’s existing ‘Justice System Capital Fund.’ That could presumably add $1.95 million to the project cost. Call it $2 million. (There are always cost overruns, when governments build stuff.) So we have a $15 million possible cost, not including the interest payments on the loan?
As far as I can tell, the Republicans who were promoting this $15 million ($20 million?) project did so with very little access to accurate information. For example. We have been told that the Certificates of Participation (COP) debt will total $13 million, and the “Justice System” contingency would be $2 million, and this amount will fund a 54-bed jail.
But we’ve never been told how big the jail will be.
Okay, yes, it’s a 54-bed jail. Well… there are three-bedroom homes in Pagosa Springs that measure 1,200 square feet… and there are three-bedroom homes that measure 3,000 square feet. The number of bedrooms do not determine the size of the house. Typically, it’s the budget that determines the size.
Those of us who’ve been watching the County Jail debacle for the past four years have seen a fair number of price estimates for this jail, depending upon the time of year and the site under consideration. These price estimates have come from the same joint team of architects: Reilly Johnson Architects, and Reynolds Ash + Associates. One thing has been pretty consistent over the past four years: the Cost Per Square Foot. $400 per Gross Square Foot (gsf). The price doesn’t include the architects’ fees, which have been estimated at around 10 percent of the project construction cost.
Example:
Here we see an estimate from January 2017. The price-per-square-foot for the jail is $400. And here, from 2016:
Here’s another official price estimate, from November 2016:
Again, we see the price estimated at $400 per square foot, not including the architects’ fees.
Is this a reasonable estimate?
According to my communications with Gunnison County administrator Matthew Birnie, his community built a new Courthouse, Sheriff’s Office, and Detention Center between 2011 and 2015. Gunnison’s population (16,000) is similar to Archuleta County’s population (13,300). Their attractive new Public Safety Center (combined Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Operations Center and Detention Center) measures 34,113 square feet and was completed at a cost of about $11.9 million.
The new Gunnison Courthouse (administration offices plus state court offices and court rooms) measures 40,740 square feet and total project costs came in at about $16.6 million, on a separate parcel of land. I’ve toured that new Courthouse, and can vouch for the fact that Gunnison County spared no expense in creating a classy joint for the judges and law enforcement personnel.
That comes to 74,853 square feet of new County facilities in Gunnison, at a total cost of approximately $28.5 million. According to my pocket calculator, the cost was about $380 per square foot.
So what the heck. Let’s go with $400 per square foot, as a reasonable cost for a new Detention Center in Pagosa Springs. The BOCC has voted unanimously to spend $13 million on a new Detention Center — not including the 15% ‘contingency. Subtract the $1 million fee charged by the architects, and we have $12 million allocated for construction costs.
How big is that? I mean, how many square feet would that be? According to my pocket calculator, the Archuleta County BOCC has approved a debt that would allow for a 30,000 square-foot Detention Center, at $400 per square foot. That is to say, a jail the size of Gunnison’s entire Public Safety Center — the Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Operations Center and Detention Center — but including only a jail.
Our existing (but abandoned) County Jail measures 9,000 square feet, and accommodated 34 beds. So we might assume that a jail twice that size — 68 beds — would measure about 18,000 square feet? But no… we are talking about a 54-bed jail, that — based on $400 per square foot — will measure more than three times the size of our existing (but abandoned) 34-bed facility.
Are our County Commissioners planning to build a $13 million luxury hotel?
The BOCC has promised us that they will be able to fund the debt payments by cutting back on road maintenance and other County services. For the next 20-25 years. Assuming, of course, that the economy doesn’t crash again, like it did in 2008. If we were to see another Great Recession — heaven forbid — and the County’s tax revenues were to decline, well… at least we would have a luxury jail to keep our alleged criminals in.
With all the issues facing our little community in 2019, isn’t that what’s really important? A really nice jail?
Gosh, I just looked back over this editorial, and it makes it sound like I’m disappointed in our three County Commissioners, and in the Republican Party Central Committee for promoting a very bad, very expensive idea.
Well, maybe I am.