Unreal. You can cut $50 to $60 million off of that list in about 30 seconds by simply thinking "really, I mean _really_ necessary? No? Slash."

Here's a hint to help City Council members, citizen committee members, etc:

If you don't have enough money for a supposedly very necessary police station, then you don't need anything related to skateparks, splash pads, parks, community centers, etc. on your list. Tighten the belt.

Interestingly one of the first projects completed was the second-to-last listed million dollar skate park.

Never say 'no way to fund all of it' when you're spending other people's money.

AgGunNut said:

---

As to why the CS facility is planned to be as large as it is slated to be, like I said, it's already past capacity. People work out of storage closets, share offices, and the City currently leases a facility for three PD units (Community Enhancement, Traffic Safety, and Animal Control) at a separate facility. The proposed building would consolidate this, give people in closets an actual work space, and allow for future growth for many years.

---

Maybe less employees is the answer

With all do respect, I'd encourage you to take this...College Station Citizens Police Academy to see the ins and outs and behind the scenes of how a police department works. It isn't just the patrol officers and motorcycle officers you see out on the streets.

CSPD already loses employees at an alarming rate with only one cause being workload compared to similar sized agencies. Those in attendance of the recent Town Hall Meeting at Lincoln Center got to hear straight from PD administration's mouth that 50 sworn officers would be needed immediately to catch up to per capita standards of officers per residents, not withstanding any future growth. Along with those officers are dispatchers, jailers, records clerks, and other support roles to make sure the wheels keep turning.

The current building was built in the late 70's when the population was much, MUCH lower. I don't think it's quite fair to say that the building that handled the needs of a town of 20-30k can handle the needs of a city of 100k+.

New Police Station + New City Building .. why not rent the vacant buildings around town? Also with tower point /old grad dorm area and all the housing that is being built should they not be receiving a huge windfall from those + huge increases in property values?

Gander and Academy are vacant and right next door to the each other. Repurpose and, voila, new city hall and PD. Do it before churches move in there.

Oh hell NO!! I don't care if they need a new police building. Total revenues have been going up due to increased property values. They should not need even more money on top of that. In fact, they should be looking at how to LOWER OUR TAX RATE due to the increased revenues.

If they would repurpose that $28MM to overpasses at 2818 (holleman and G bush for starters), they would need a whole lot fewer police and fire to respond to accidents.

The old Academy building would be a great location for a police station. And the Gander mountain building would make a great new city hall.

AgGunNut said:

---

Don't shoot the messenger. I never said that city administration planned accordingly...whether that on City Hall and/or City Council, it certainly isn't up to the individual city departments. All they can do is express their needs. Luckily, the citizen advisory committee got first hand knowledge as to how over capacity the current facility is and got to voice their concerns.

As for Conroe's building, I don't believe they have a jail facility in theirs (this alone can account for at least $2M). Part of the problem is ever increasing cost of construction. I'm willing to bet if the project had been started when Conroe's was started, it would have been much cheaper.

---

I get the need for having holding cells, but why does the city need a fully licensed jail facility when Brazos county jail is a 10 minute transport away?

Purchasing or long-term leasing the vacant Gander Mt. and Academy buildings make sense at this time. The tax loss might be somewhat higher than another location, but those two bulidngs may stay vacant for decades...think of the Albertsons buildings around town.

Government has a relentless thirst for more and more money...it's an addiction. It can't help itself. Look at the list above. Anyone can find a "need" if they look for it. Government, like the citizens, have a whole lot of wants, but very few needs.

The logic of other cities have higher tax rates it a government comparison game. We have a lower tax rate than X city. So we raise ours. Y city see ours and gets their raised, X comes back and sees the two higher and they "need" to raise theirs. It's an endless cycle.

A&M plays the same game. We have to compete with other universities for professors pay so the salaries are raised. Then another university says the same when they see A&M's up and gets a budget increase....and the cycle goes on and on.

The intended role and purpose of government is very small and limited.

in city government....you ain't trying unless you build a Taj Mahal

and have a bunch people working for you and new positions opened with fancy titles so you can pay them a lot and....your salary gets bumped

its a game they all play

Just to be clear, the Albertson's buildings probably aren't the best examples. Wal-Mart owns the one on 2818. They built into part of it and use the rest for storage. H-E-B owns the one on University and is keeping it vacant to keep any other grocer from occupying.