County staff presented a $12.5 million package of capital-project requests to the Brazos County Commissioners Court at an Aug. 11 work session, asking the court to prioritize the items for next year’s budget.

Nina Payne, county staff, said the requests include a $2,000,000 contingency fund, $500,000 for design of a future 911 office at 2504 Kent Street and a $10,000,000 increase to fund construction of a central receiving building and office at the Ashford Hills location. "The total request is $12,500,000," Payne said.

The court was told the contingency line covers unexpected needs in the fiscal year; Payne noted the county used contingency last year to purchase the Ashford Hills property. Payne also said items marked with an asterisk in the presentation are proposed for the budget but may be removed during the budgeting process.

Commissioners pressed staff about the $10,000,000 estimate for what was described as a metal building and office space for central receiving. "I'm just wondering where they got a price of $10,000,000 for a metal building," one commissioner said, asking purchasing and project management to explain the estimate and the earlier $5,000,000 figure that had been used when the county previously put the work out for bid.

Payne responded that staff would bring additional people forward from purchasing and project management if the court wanted more detail and reiterated that the full list of department requests would be reviewed and prioritized at the end of the session.

Discussion-only items and contingent requests remain subject to removal; no formal motions or votes were taken during the work session on these capital items. The court will revisit prioritization later in the budget process and will receive further cost breakdowns and explanations from purchasing or project management before final decisions.