City Council needs to take a second, hard look at the plans and
price tag for the new Gilroy police station.
City Council needs to take a second, hard look at the plans and price tag for the new Gilroy police station.
There’s no justification for spending more than $19 million in taxpayer funds on an amenity-filled police station while the city is facing untold economic hardship due to the state budget crisis and downturn in the economy. If Morgan Hill can build a very similarly sized police station for a planned $8.4 million, there’s no excuse for Gilroy spending close to – and now we’re learning perhaps more than – $20 million.
We all appreciate the hard work done by all of our public safety officers, but this grandiose station is perhaps preying on public goodwill in the post-Sept. 11 era. Respect and admiration for our police force is one thing, carte blanche with the taxpayer checkbook is quite another.
Council needs to show strong, courageous leadership on this issue by finding ways to cut several million dollars from this project’s bloated price tag. The first place to start is with the weight room and one-eighth-mile running track.
Police officers are well compensated. If they don’t like using the convenient facilities at the nearby Wheeler Community Center and jogging outdoors to keep fit, they can spend their own money for a health club membership.
To add the insult of exclusivity to the injury of the high price, the gym and track would be for GPD members only. That’s bad for City Hall morale and a heinous waste. Next, the firefighters will be asking where their running track is going to be located. The weight room and running track should top Council’s cut list.
Here’s another item for Council’s reality check: Does the station’s 1,536-square-foot community meeting room duplicate facilities available elsewhere – such as at City Hall, the library or Wheeler Community Center? How often would such a room really be used and by how many people?
The parking structure also needs review. Is an underground garage (for use of city workers only, it’s worth noting) the most cost-effective way accommodate the needed parking? Are 260 spaces really needed?
These are tough, unpleasant questions, but they’re ones we elected our City Council members to ask. When the newer, higher price tag is presented to City Council early next month, it will be the duty of every Council member to take a close, hard-nosed look at each item the GPD is asking taxpayers to pay for – and then find ways to make substantial cuts.
One GPD administrator said “… we wanted this station done right, our community deserves that.”
What Gilroy deserves is a fiscally responsible facility. What Gilroy deserves is a City Council that minds the store for the taxpayers. What Gilroy deserves is common-sense – not a building that is costing more than double what is being planned for Morgan Hill.
The Council should not accept lame excuses about the rising cost of steel, unexpected sewer problems and “project creep.” Good project management – which our community definitely deserves – keeps costs in check.
What Gilroy citizens need – and deserve – now is leadership. Scaling back the plans for the police station might not be politically correct, but it’s the right thing to do. Anything less would be wholly irresponsible.
