Oklahoma County jail value soars to $835 million

The estimated value to construct a bond-financed Oklahoma County jail has risen to about $835 million from round $700 million earlier this 12 months and is now 2.6 occasions increased than the preliminary anticipated worth.

Inflation together with the price of furnishings, fixtures, and tools for the power that may exchange an present detention heart accounted for the rise, Oklahoma County Engineer Stacey Trumbo mentioned in an e mail on Tuesday.

County voters authorized $260 million of common obligation bonds in June 2022 for what was then a $316 million jail. In 2023, the county issued $45 million of the bonds. 

The remaining $215 million of bonds had been bought competitively to BofA Securities in October over the objections of County Commissioner Jason Lowe, who known as promoting the bonds with out understanding the destiny of a possible gross sales tax hike poll measure subsequent 12 months for the undertaking irresponsible.

Trumbo mentioned the “gross sales tax is the one approach ahead.”

The county goals to exchange its 13-story detention heart in downtown Oklahoma Metropolis — which opened in 1991 and has been beneath state and federal scrutiny for well being, security, and different considerations — with a jail that features area for medical and psychological well being remedy.

A psychological well being facility the county is paying for with American Rescue Plan Act cash is being constructed on property the place the alternative jail will probably be inbuilt phases. 

In the meantime, Oklahoma County met a deadline set by Moody’s Rankings, which warned it might place the county’s Aa1 GO score beneath overview for potential withdrawal if a last fiscal 2024 monetary audit was not produced by the tip of November.  

The county’s audit for the fiscal 12 months that ended June 30, 2024, was posted on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA web site Nov. 14.