At a time when Harris Teeter is selling some cartons of eggs for more than $9, it’s no surprise that a new headquarters for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department is going to end up costing taxpayers a whole lot more than was expected when the new headquarters project was approved three years ago.
In March 2019, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners approved the “$12 million” project. According to information provided by the facilities department staff to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners this week, the project is now estimated to cost $23.9 million.
A report that Guilford County Facilities and Property Management Director Eric Hilton provided to the commissioners informed them of the bad news. Construction costs have been skyrocketing, and the project – which involves the demolition of the old county jail in downtown Greensboro and the construction of the new headquarters in its place – is going to cost a lot more than planned.
In the information presented this week to the commissioners, Hilton notes that inflation is still driving prices higher and he gave numerous reasons why the county can expect to pay more.
According to Hilton, commercial office construction costs rose 23 percent in 2021 and 21 percent in 2022.
Also, new industrial construction costs were up nearly 22 percent in 2022, and the cost of new school construction increased by 17.7 percent last year.
About the only good news in Hilton’s report to the board is that the cost of metals –such as copper, steel and aluminum – fell by 10 percent to 20 percent in 2022. Other raw materials and items used in construction, however, went up.
Hilton cites concrete, insulation and gypsum board products as examples. Last year, the prices of those materials rose 12 percent, 14 percent and 18 percent respectively.
Democrats in charge at all levels. No surprise here!
Lol, guess Skip and Joey ain’t as smart and good stewards of tax payer money as they thought. But hey, the Democrats will only raise your taxes again as they don’t care about you. You voted them in so enjoy what you got…total morons running you city and county….into the sewer.
What do you expect? A govt that can do anything well? Any contractors, accountants, civil engineers, architects on the City or County Board? No, just a list of “preferred” vendors (the faithful).
Incidentally, the cause of the spike in the price of eggs is due to having to destroy some 40 million+ chickens due to Avian Flu. Wholesale prices vary greatly due to the origination, supply contracts, etc. We found a $2+ difference in the price of a doz large at two stores on the same day.
$9dz? is nothing but gouging.
HT is my last choice to buy anything. You can go in there on sale day, or senior day, and roll a bowling ball down an aisle. Just my opinion, but anyone who drops more than a few bucks in there is a spendthrift. And they don’t have a right to complain about not having enough money.
Is anybody surprised? Imean after all it’s a government project.
And just how much empty space is currently available in Greensboro?
Someone needs to review the contract conditions, language and discussion of potential cost over runs from the bids. While there is no doubt that materials costs have increased, some costs must be locked in at the time that the contracts are signed. Not all the costs should be passed on to the County. Seriously, let’s get the commissioners to form a committee to investigate. Maybe some personnel changes in the County administrative staff are needed.
In today’s economic environment most contract’s are written with a 30-90 price guarantee
AB,
How dare you question the wisdom and action of our Overlords. Remember, they know what is best for us serfs and should not be challenged.
Yes I know we have Rs on the Board, but where is their voice?
The tax on property also went up when the commission didn’t reduce the tax rate on new evaluation as they should have meaning they had a lot of tax money to spend. If you aren’t working for the money it is easy to justify paying more than you budgeted. The should reduce the size of the project rather than increasing the amount to pay for a bad plan.
Can we get out leaves picked up? It was three times/year, then twice, now…..?
Leaves are a city issue not the county, go back to civics class
Sounds like Democrat problems. Voters chose this economy. Now we all get to pay through the nose for damn near everything! Vote wisely my friends…
Well just tell those in charge to go harvest their money trees. There seems to be a bountiful harvest for anything they want.
I’m not a construction cost expert, but if the largest increase in material cost was less than 25%…where did the other 75% of the total increase come from? Assuming the scope of the original project did not creep.