Police, fire, ambulance: Those are the reasons why Barrie councillors are going through sticker shock.
The projected cost of a proposed emergency services campus that includes police, fire and the Simcoe County Paramedic Services is $120 million.
“I believe the model is ultimately going to save our taxpayers money and the components are necessary,” said Mayor Jeff Lehman.
Proposed to be constructed on an as-yet undisclosed site in central Barrie, the project incudes a new $73-million police headquarters (which includes an indoor training range), a $14.7-million fire training facility and a $22-million paramedic services hub.
“These are for adequacy training and basic standards for emergency services,” said Lehman.
The budget also includes $6.2 million for land and $3.6 million for construction financing, as the city will have to borrow money to finance the project.
In a bid to cope with the sticker shock, some councillors wanted to take the summer to think about it, but that delay would put construction behind and increase costs by $3 million, said Rick Pews, Barrie’s corporate facilities director.
So instead, councillors asked city staff to cut 10 per cent of the costs associated with Building A, which includes both the paramedicine hub and the police headquarters, and then examine phasing of the other two buildings, an indoor fire training facility and a police vehicle repair centre. They will meet July 17, in the midst of their summer recess so as to keep the delay to a minimum, as staff were planning to get design going in preparation for construction to begin next spring.
Barrie councillors aren’t the only ones suffering from sticker shock.
Next Tuesday, the city’s partner, Simcoe County, will have vote on the $23 million it would have to pitch in on the project that both city and county staff have been working on since January, under the guidance of consultants who helped each emergency services refine their needs and examine how they could fit together in a way that would reduce costs.
The estimated cost of having stand-alone projects is valued at $138.5 million. That breaks down to $18.5 million for Barrie Fire and Emergency Services, $26.9 million for the Simcoe County Paramedic Service and $93 million for the Barrie Police Service.
Barrie has been struggling with the question of a new police headquarters for a decade. The police service has outgrown Sperling Drive building, constructed in 1992.
A decade ago, the forecast for a new police headquarters was $65 million.
Rather than pay that, Barrie acquired a former racquet club on Bell Farm Road as well as another nearby office site.
But police chief Kimberley Greenwood said officers need a larger training site which can grow with the service as it grows with the city and which can also offer scenario training. She said such a training facility would ideally have 12 lanes.
It comes with a $9.5-million price tag, which Coun. Arif Khan said was “pretty heavy” and city councillors questioned whether the police could make do with less.
Ward 10 Coun. Mike McCann questioned whether the project should include an indoor fire training facility and suggested one be constructed in the annexed lands, possibly in the area west of Hwy. 400.
If built on another site, city staff estimated the fire training facility would cost
23 per cent more - $4 million more – than the proposed one, at $18.6 million.
The report also stressed the city was vulnerable to loss as insurance companies looking to recover costs in claims as well as employee health and safety liabilities.
Next Tuesday, Simcoe County councillors will have their final look at their part of the project, Building A, which will be the hub for paramedics in the Barrie and Innisfil areas. Building A also includes space for police and some shared spaces.
Councillors also want to have a look at moving Building C, police vehicle repair, to the city’s operations centre on Ferndale Drive.
Lindsey Worton, the city’s manager of facilities planning and development, warned the operations centre would then have to be expanded and that would add costs.
“If anything changes, it reduces the economies of scale,” she said.
“If we do delay, the county may choose not to build. A stand-alone increases the costs.”
Of the cost, $13 million is proposed to be spent this year and work ramps up to $51 million in 2018 and $50 million in 2019.
