HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - The estimated construction cost for the proposed Public Safety Complex in Hattiesburg is higher than originally expected, officials said.
City council members revealed Monday that the cost has increased from an estimated $25 million to about $38.5 million, The Hattiesburg American reported (https://hatne.ws/1Z7FoTf).
“When we had this meeting (to originally discuss the project) some two years ago, the council was very clear that we needed to keep the cost under $25 million, including all the extras - temporary location and costs for the court system, for the police department, and whomever we were going to be moving,” City Council President Kim Bradley said.
The project, which is still in the planning stages, consists of tearing down the facility containing the current police department and municipal court. New facilities will then be built on the site of the existing police department.
Bradley said one way to deal with the significant increase in the cost estimate is to sell tax credits.
“We’ve got to move forward,” Bradley said. “We want to have a first-class police department, first-class fire department, and we have to treat them as such. They need the facilities that they can work out of, that will house them, that will want people to come be a part of that department.”
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Information from: The Hattiesburg American, https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com
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