No vote on cost doesn’t halt safety building

PORT WASHINGTON - Despite the fact Port Washington aldermen last week voted against a maximum budget for a new public safety building that would house the police and fire departments, work on the project continues, officials said Tuesday.

“It’s still in motion,” Mayor Ted Neitzke said. “We’re very far along in the process.

“Right now, we’re just trying to close the gaps on some concerns that were raised by aldermen.”

A motion to set a maximum budget for the project, set to be built at the corner of highways 33 and LL on the city’s far west side, at $33.5 million failed on a 4-3 vote, with many aldermen questioning the cost of the building, especially at a time when the city is facing a number of expensive projects.

“When I’ve heard from taxpayers, they constantly will bring up the cost of this, the cost of emergency medical services, the cost of our water rate increases and they’re also facing things like increases in gasoline, increases in food costs,” Ald. Pat Tearney said last week.

“If you’re on the edge, or if you’re having trouble affording your home, this might push you over. I really have a big concern about that.”

Aldermen Dan Benning and Deb Postl, both members of the General Government and Finance Committee, said Monday that the project will be scrutinized when the committee looks at the city’s capital budget during 2025 budget deliberations.

That discussion will include a thorough examination of upcoming projects and financing for them.

“We’ll take a deep dive on capital projects for the next 10 years,” Benning said. “We need to make sure we understand our options. We need to understand from all the department heads what our needs are.”

Postl added, “It’s a very serious balancing act. We’ve got to do this right.”

Benning noted that the cost of the public safety building is high, but added, “Whether it’s the public safety building or anything, the price nowadays is just obscenely ridiculous.”

Ald. John Sigwart acknowledged Tuesday that the project is moving ahead but said the city “shouldn’t rush into something. Everybody’s so hot to trot.”

Sigwart said former City Administrator Tony Brown had estimated the cost of the building at $20 million, so it caught aldermen off guard when the project came in at $35 million earlier this year.

“Now we’re at $33.5 million. We’ve made some improvements, but it’s still a lot of money. That’s our total indebtedness today,” he said.

The project might be easier to swallow in a couple years when a significant amount of that debt is repaid and off the books, he said.

“We’re a relatively prosperous community, but we’re not loaded,” he said. “The reality with the safety building is the money.”

Officials are looking at ways to alleviate concerns, but Neitzke said the public safety building needs to move ahead.

“It’s a significant need for the city,” he said.

The city hired an owner’s representative to seek out efficiencies in the project and bring down the cost, Neitzke said, and more than $1 million has been cut from the project.

“This is the cost,” he said, referring to the current $33.5 million estimate.

Neitzke said one reason the maximum cost for the building wasn’t approved is that the action didn’t align with the budget timeline. The delay will allow those discussions to move ahead simultaneously, he said, and should allow the city to bid the project at the best time.

If those discussions go beyond October, he said, it could add new costs.

Neitzke said the council will be asked in the next month to once again set a maximum budget for the safety building, but Sigwart said he believes the city should wait until a recently commissioned facilities study that will look at needed improvements to most city buildings, including the police and fire stations, is completed before making a decision.

It might make more sense to add a second floor to the existing downtown police station — something the building was designed for — he said.

“If they can convince me it makes no sense to put a second floor on the police station, I can get behind this (public safety building),” he said.

It might also make sense to retain at least a portion of the fire station, he said, and house items that would be used in the downtown area, such as the department boat, there.