BY CATHY DYSON
Governments don't have much financial news to cheer about these days, but the King George County Board of Supervisors found about 7 million reasons to be happy this week.
That's how much money the county will save by building two new government offices during a lousy economy.
On Tuesday, the board learned that the apparent low bid for the new sheriff's office was $7.33 million, considerably less than the estimate of $13 million.
It was the second time in a month bids came in well under projections.
The low bid for the animal pound was $1.5 million, compared with an estimate of $2.75 million.
Together, the projects will cost less than $9 million, compared with estimates of nearly $16 million.
"That's astonishing," said board Chairman Joe Grzeika. "We hit it right at the sweet spot. We rolled the dice on it, and it really came out in our favor."
Supervisor Dale Sisson Jr. added, "I would never have guessed it would have been that low."
Last fall, the board borrowed $28 million in Virginia Resources Authority bonds to pay for the projects, part of the county's new government complex. The 62-acre complex is at State Routes 3 and 205, next to the new Rappahannock Area YMCA.
It will take King George 24 years to pay off the loans. The payments will amount to about 3 cents on the real-estate tax rate, said County Administrator Travis Quesenberry.
As board members look at next year's budget in the weeks to come, they will decide whether to raise taxes or absorb the extra amount in the operating budget, Quesenberry.
Then the board will talk about how it might spend the money saved on the first two building projects. The money can't be applied to the general budget, but must be used for capital improvement projects.
The county has quite a list of needs, including:
A health and human services building
A new operations center for service and maintenance of the county fleet
Expansion of Smoot Library
An expanded school bus garage.
"We can't even get a modern bus in there," said Quesenberry, who added that the garage hasn't changed since 1969, when he was a 16-year-old high school student who made $4 a day by driving a bus.
King George has needed a new animal pound and sheriff's office almost as long, he added. The county eventually will have to expand its courthouse and move county offices, he said.
But for now, the focus will remain on the new government complex--and the money the county saved by bidding the projects now.
King George had a healthy turnout of bidders: 14 for the sheriff's office and 24 for the pound. For the larger project, the new sheriff's office, the difference between the low and high bids was only $1.3 million.
The closeness of the bids was reassuring, Quesenberry said.
"Had we bid these projects a year and a half ago, I think we would have been very close to the estimated numbers," Quesenberry said. "This was the perfect time. If any community can afford to bid on these kinds of projects, now is the time to do it."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
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These King George County projects will be built at the new government complex at State Routes 3 and 205, next to the Rappahannock Area YMCA:
SHERIFF'S OFFICE ESTIMATED COST: $13 million LOW BID: $7.33 million CONSTRUCTION: May 2009 to November 2010ANIMAL POUND ESTIMATED COST: $2.75 million LOW BID: $1.5 million CONSTRUCTION: April 2009 to January 2010 |