Plans for new county digs digging a hole in revenues

When the price for new a Bernalillo County headquarters — sold as a way to consolidate services and save taxpayer money — jumps by about 30 percent in just two years, it raises the obvious question: How did this deal go off track?

County staff want commissioners to sign off on a revised $49 million deal that includes a $45.8 million design-build construction contract and associated taxes to renovate the Alvarado Square building at 415 Silver SW. In addition to renovations, and new furnishings and fixtures, the deal adds in a new building next door for commission chambers.

When the county purchased the Alvarado site in 2017 for a virtual song, staff estimated the total project would cost $36.2 million — including land and remodeling — and some of that would be recouped by selling five properties vacated by the consolidation into the one building. Savings from efficiencies were estimated at $2 million over 10 years.

The project was to be paid for with $37 million in gross receipts tax bonds. And at the time, County Manager Julie Morgas Baca justified the research into the purchase. “County staff involved in the due diligence and our real estate consultant have worked tirelessly to present a clear financial and functional picture of the building’s condition and the programmatic opportunities at Alvarado Square,” she wrote in 2017.

That was then. Two years later, she says the space for commission chambers in the eight-story building won’t work because of immovable columns and the need for space on the main floor for customer service. Enter the new $3.5 million building next door to house commission chambers.

More mechanical upgrades are pushing up the cost, as well. And then there’s the more open floor plan that boosted the furniture bill by $2.5 million to $3.5 million — apparently when employees move over, none of their desks or chairs will.

Commission Chairwoman Maggie Hart Stebbins said the new price tag surprised her and she understood why some might have sticker shock. But she said the county staff had adequately justified the increase due to unforeseen needs and upgrades that extend the building’s life.

The project now is to be paid for with $37.5 million in GRT bonds, plus $5 million in already approved general obligation bonds and $6.9 million from general fund monies from prior surpluses. (No doubt from all those county tax increases.) Morgas Baca says she’s “real comfortable with this. It’s something that would’ve cost a lot more money if we would’ve gone for new construction.”

That doesn’t make a $9 million overrun OK. After all, shouldn’t county officials and those who advised them to buy the building have figured out then the building would not work for one of its main purposes — providing space for citizens to watch their elected officials conduct business?

It’s not like county officials were buying an obscure property. The building has been around since 1980 and was on the market for a while, listed in 2013 for $11 million before the county snagged it for a mere $2.7 million. Meanwhile, the county’s plans to consolidate services in one spot for improved efficiency and better service to the public made sense then and still does.

But that’s all been pushed back — county workers who were to move in by the middle of this year are now expected to be in by early 2021.

What started out as a steal could end up picking the public’s pockets. Now it’s time for the commissioners to ask the tough questions before they sign off on this plan to dig this money pit any deeper.