Council debates timing and scale of new police facility as costs and debt capacity collide

The Saratoga Springs council heard a detailed presentation on a proposed new police facility and spent the bulk of the Oct. 29 budget workshop debating whether to bond the full project now or stage planning and funding over time.

The police chief summarized operational constraints at the department's century‑old City Hall basement location and described high call volumes — 27,643 calls in a prior year and roughly 22,126 so far this year — that the department says make a replacement necessary. Assistant Chief Eric Warfield showed photographs and described cramped workspaces, lack of private interview rooms, recurring plumbing and ventilation problems, and safety risks when officers move prisoners through public sidewalks. Warfield said officers sometimes work in storage spaces, interview rooms are unavailable for simultaneous suspect/victim interviews, and critical equipment and records are crowded into undersized areas.

"This is not the way you would ever design a police department on purpose," Warfield said, adding that the department needs modern, single‑level layouts, secure vehicle storage and spaces that protect victims' privacy.

Police leadership proposed a site adjacent to City Hall (the city‑owned parking lot at Lake Avenue and High Rock) and presented a range of cost estimates. The base estimate for a three‑story option was reported at about $14.6 million in earlier concepts, while the department and its consultant included contingency and program needs that pushed a project estimate toward the mid‑$20 millions. Chief McIntosh told the council the longer the city waits, the higher construction costs will climb, and urged the council to fund planning and design work now so the project can move forward when funding is available.

Finance Commissioner (presenting the budget) pressed for caution. She described the city's self‑imposed 2% charter debt cap — a debt limit she estimated at $114 million — and noted total outstanding bond debt of roughly $101 million. After deducting water and sewer debt of about $24 million, the finance commissioner said the city has about $37 million available to bond until 2033. "If we take on a project that's going to cost $25,000,000 ... we will not have any money for any other project," she said, proposing instead to fund initial planning costs or set aside smaller sums rather than bond the entire amount now.

Several council members said they support a new facility for public safety and officer wellbeing, but voiced the need for clearer cost breakdowns and a staged approach. One councilor suggested using a smaller, targeted bonding amount to cover the first planning phases and then amend the capital budget later if needed. Another recommended pursuing grants and federal funding sources and noted that bond timing, contingency levels and the city's capital cash flow require careful study.

No formal vote to bond the police facility was taken at the workshop. Police and council staff agreed to circulate the consultants' cost estimates, provide clearer contingency explanations and explore options to fund at least early design and planning work without locking the city into a large long‑term bond.

The council moved on to other departmental presentations and adjourned without a decision on the police facility.

Next steps: the council asked police leadership and finance staff to provide detailed cost breakdowns, a timeline for design and construction phases, and proposals for a smaller planning allocation that the council could consider amending into the capital budget later.