GILROY
– A recently released rough version of Gilroy’s 2003 Capital
Improvement Budget allocates a 25 percent funding increase to build
the city’s new police station – $5 million more than originally
approved – but there is no need for alarm, Mayor Tom Springer
said.
GILROY – A recently released rough version of Gilroy’s 2003 Capital Improvement Budget allocates a 25 percent funding increase to build the city’s new police station – $5 million more than originally approved – but there is no need for alarm, Mayor Tom Springer said.
“All (the capital improvement budget) is saying is that the price could go that high,” Springer said. “But nobody has agreed to it … I think we will stay in the ballpark of the original figure.”
The original figure approved by City Council for the state-of-the-art, 49,000-square-foot facility scheduled to open in December 2004 was $19.2 million – the rough draft of the 2003 capital improvement budget allocates up to $23.8 million for the facility.
Due to dramatically rising costs in steel, sewage-line problems and other unforeseen expenses, the project could exceed the original budget, and some cutbacks could be made to the facility if the approved budget can’t be met, Springer said.
City Council, city staff and police officials will meet tonight with the new station’s architects to discuss the construction process scheduled for ground-breaking in April.
“We’ve had some small inflation costs, but I’m confident we will be within the ballpark (of the $19.2 million),” Springer said. “My goal is in the $19.1 to $19.3 million range. If we are too much over we might have to make some adjustments – stage some construction or knock something off.”
The money earmarked for the new station will be paid for through the city’s developmental impact fees – which are used to fund capital improvement projects and city improvements related to population growth.
The $23.8 million tentatively earmarked for the new police station will be paid off by the city over a 20-year-period through open-market bonds.
Currently, developers pay $25,370 in impact fees to build a single-family home in Gilroy; police, park development, storm drain, traffic, sewer development, water development, fire, public safety and library expansion fees are all calculated into the fee.
The city’s $18.3 million planned new library, the $2.3 million third fire station and the renovations to the Seventh Street administration offices are all scheduled to receive funding from the $65.9 million capital improvement budget. The library is still hoping to receive at least $11 million of its funding from a state grant, although its request was rejected during the grant’s first round of competition in October.
No money from the city’s suffering General Fund – which if the economy keeps on its current pace will be tapped by the end of the decade – will be used to build the station, although it will pay the salary of the more than 100 people who will work at the building and the city staff who are working to develop it.
“The whole budget can change because of the General Fund,” Springer said. “If we can’t maintain and operate (the new police station) we have a problem.”
Due in large part to the rising costs of employee benefits, City Administrator Jay Baksa recently asked that each city department identify area’s where 10 percent budget cuts could be made.
“There’s no question that in these hard financial times we want to be at or under budget on any project,” Councilmember Al Pinheiro said. “If we are over budget, there better be good reasons. That’s what we’ll discuss on Tuesday night.”
Included amenities in the new department at 7301 Hanna St. will be a temporary jail that can hold up to 22 people; a 1,536-square-foot community meeting room – something the current department lacks; a 1,485-square-foot training/weight room for the officers who currently work out next door at the Wheeler Community Center; a running track; and an a 260-space parking garage that will be used by all civic center employees working at the nearby city hall offices and library.
A 75-foot tall clock tower northeast of the building will also house the station’s 36-foot tall radio antenna.
Gilroy’s planned department is expected to cost more than double Morgan Hill’s new police headquarters also being planned.
Although a location for the Morgan Hill building has not yet been selected by Morgan Hill City Council, a report by the city estimated costs for a new construction of the planned 43,300-square-foot building to be $8.4 million. Currently $6.7 million is budgeted for a new police facility in the Morgan Hill Capital Improvement Budget.
“That’s like comparing apples to oranges,” Springer said. “Morgan Hill views their police department very different than ours.”
Although Morgan Hill’s new police station will have most of the same amenities as Gilroy’s new station – minus the parking garage – the city’s police force is about 60 percent the size of Gilroy’s, said Morgan Hill Police Chief Jerry Galvin.
“We don’t have the population of Gilroy, the police force of Gilroy, or the crime problem of Gilroy,” Galvin said.
Gilroy’s current police station at 7370 Rosanna St. was built in 1965 and is only 19,000-square feet. Morgan Hill’s current downtown department measures 10,000-square feet.
The new police department is only the first phase in the Gilroy Civic Center Master Plan, which will include the new public library, City Hall expansion and renovation, Senior Center expansion, Wheeler Community Center expansion and other Civic Center campus improvements. When complete by 2039, the Civic Center will cover 327,196-square-feet – compared with its 91,065-current square feet – and cost an estimated $50 to $70 million.
“Right now the plans are still to open the station in December 2004,” Springer said.
