Supervisors approve guaranteed maximum price step for new Maricopa County elections facility

Maricopa County supervisors unanimously approved item 51, a phase-2 guaranteed maximum price (GMP 1) contract for the Elections Facility Phase 2 project, moving the county closer to a new building officials said will nearly double the space available for elections operations.

County staff told the board the county began a multi-year process to determine the best option for an elections facility and settled on building on county-owned land near Eighth Avenue and Jefferson, on the campus edge. County facilities director CJ Jones said design is about 50% complete and explained that phase 1 of the contract covered preconstruction services; phase 2 encompasses the GMP process that locks in construction pricing and scheduling.

County leadership said the new facility is intended to address operational constraints at the current site and increase security and tabulation capacity ahead of the 2028 presidential election. County staff said key project milestones include receiving keys in August 2027 and operating the 2028 presidential election in the new facility. "We're supposed to get the keys in August of 2027," county staff said, adding the new building would "maybe even more than double the space and capacity that we currently have."

Supervisor Lesko asked how the county will pay for the construction; Chief Financial Officer Mike McGee explained the county issues tax-exempt bonds periodically as a financing approach even when cash is available. McGee said the county uses bonds in part to avoid counting the full capital cost against statutory expenditure limits; the county typically repays such debt within about two years, he said. Assistant county manager and other board members described the county as having large reserves and limited long-term general-obligation debt.

Supervisors moved and seconded approval of the phase-2 GMP item; the motion passed unanimously.