|
County sees no overruns, expects building project to remain on budget CROW WING COUNTY Senior Reporter Crow Wing County's building project budget is tight, but county officials say they still expect to complete the project within the confines of the overall budget.
Crow Wing County Board Chairman Gary Walters said he has not heard any inkling of an overrun on the project.
"We are still within budget and we are still within not asking taxpayers for any more money," Walters said.
County administrator Peter Herlofsky Jr. was going through the budget numbers Wednesday for a report. Herlofsky said after checking the numbers he was not aware of any large overruns.
The county's $56.5 million campus building project on Laurel Street in Brainerd includes new buildings -- a Judicial Center, a new jail with help from Cass County and a new Community Services Building -- and renovating existing space such as the current Service Building and historic courthouse.
The county created a $1.6 million contingency fund for the entire project. The jail ate up most of those funds.
In March, Cass and Crow Wing counties officially agreed to collaborate on the new jail planned for Brainerd. Cost additions for the new jail were offset by a $2 million contribution from Cass County toward an additional fourth housing unit of 60 beds. The original base plan called for three housing units with 60 beds each.
Faced with a growing female population in the jail, partially because of methamphetamine charges, the county opted to pay $732,347 for the separate 30-bed housing unit for women. If the county had not included a separate housing unit for women, officials planned to pay for partitions in one of the other housing units in order to accept female prisoners. Those costs, about $52,500, were deducted.
The original contract for the jail was $16,889,889. Herlofsky said jail bids were higher than the county would have liked. Costs for the jail -- which has barely been started unlike the Judicial Center and Community Services Building now rising three stories each -- reflected increased costs related to oil, cement and steel, the county officials reported.
Herlofsky said the contingency fund, with some expected changes in the jail, is anticipated to be replenished to more than $100,000.
Change orders, alterations that have both increased costs and reduced them in some cases, have amounted to an increase of about $92,000. Herlofsky said most of the change orders, which are expected in any construction project, arose with finding buried fuel tanks and contaminated soils in the northern part of the building project area.
On the positive side, Herlofsky said finding those tanks means the project helped clean up the environment.
Tuesday the county board heard Duane Blanck, highway engineer, report his estimates for the proposed building project for the highway department at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport was $5 million. The project was anticipated to cost nearly $4 million. The project could be changed to meet what the county board decides to spend. At this time, because building has not started, it is not a cost overrun.
Herlofsky is meeting with Auditor Roy Luukkonen to look at those costs and potential funds. A report is expected to the county board in June.
Herlofsky said the county is watching contracts closely and after going through expenditures has all the costs worked out to the penny at this time.
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
|
Overcast, 61°
