Jail annex delays tie up county spending goals

El Paso County has been dealing with delays and holdups with the expansion and renovation of the county jail annex. Public Works staff said this week the jail annex is still expected to stay within the original overall $40 million budget. But with completion now slated for May of 2017, it will be 309 days days behind schedule.

“We’ve discussed various options with the court to modify their existing contract to account for that delay for how the costs of that extension will be covered,” said Public Works Director Pat Adauto.

The main extra cost will be from extending the county’s project manager contract, anticipated to be a few hundred thousand dollars. Any penalties will be negotiated between the county attorney and the contractor, Urban Associates. But there aren’t many complaints about the work itself.

“The quality is tremendous, and a lot of the delay has been in unforeseen circumstances,” Adauto said. “Some weather, some other reasons. And so we’re hoping to resolve this amicably and just get the project completed.”

Beyond the money, the year’s worth of delays complicates stated commissioners goals of reducing or even eliminating use of the downtown jail, which is more costly to operate.

“That jail on the east side, the annex, allows for greater efficiency and lower costs to the taxpayer,” said El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar. “So the delay is directly impacting our ability to number one, achieve savings but also number two, our ability to move forward with plans that we’d like to talk about in the immediate future.”

Plans like reducing the $70 million a year the county spends on the jail system right now.

Commissioners will also be discussing a jail annex phone contract Monday. There could be further impacts for the overall project from that as well.