La Marque committee reviews new public safety building options, jail capacity and bonding scenarios

The City of La Marque Public Safety Committee on Monday heard presentations on options and financing for a new public safety facility and replacement detention space, including preliminary cost estimates, modular construction options and bond-capacity scenarios, but took no formal votes.

The committee heard from the project architect, Mr. Long (presenter), who gave a broad order-of-magnitude cost estimate and described how a replacement would meet current detention standards, and from Brad Angst of Stifel Public Finance, who reviewed multiple bond-financing scenarios and the projected tax impact for homeowners.

Mr. Long, the project's architect (presenter), said the team used $650 per square foot for “hard cost” assumptions and estimated “about $20,000,000 give or take, order of magnitude cost” for new construction while stressing that the figure contains many unknowns and is “by no means the final number.” He cautioned the committee against treating the number as fixed: “This is a very broad stroke…there's lots of unknowns in this. This is by no means the final number,” he said.

On detention capacity, Mr. Long said the project would replace the city’s existing beds “in kind, but at the current standard,” and listed program elements that…