The cost of the Atlanta’s public safety training center has jumped by $19 million, according to city officials, after increased security measures, litigation and a spike in insurance rates have added additional financial obligations.
Mayor Andre Dickens’ administration gave an updated funding breakdown of the project to Atlanta City Council on Wednesday, after misleading descriptions of the initial public contribution have clouded details surrounding construction financing.
Debate surrounding the project grew after the funding package passed by Atlanta City Council in June of last year was significantly more than the price tag taxpayers have been told they would cover.
Since the proposal’s inception in 2021, city officials have long echoed details of the funding makeup: if the city put up $30 million, the Atlanta Police Foundation and its philanthropic partners would handle the rest of the project’s $90 million cost.
But that was not the case: the actual cost to taxpayers is expected to be more than double what was promised. City Council unanimously passed a deal to dedicate up to $67 million in city funding to the construction and operation of the facility.
The additional cost comes in the form of $1.2 million in annual lease payments to the Atlanta Police Foundation, repaying the nonprofit organization for much of its contribution toward construction — as well as an additional $1 million in construction costs to build a gymnasium at the facility.
Credit: Jenn Finch
Credit: Jenn Finch
Atlanta Deputy Chief Operating Officer LaChandra Burkes reported to council members that the overall cost of construction has increased from the originally-stated $90 million to more than $109 million. Burkes said that the elevated price will be covered by the Atlanta Police Foundation and its donors.
“It is important for me to reiterate that even though we have seen an increase in the costs, there will be no additional city or taxpayer dollars going towards this project,” she said.
The mayor’s office said that a large chunk of the increase is for heightened security measures at the site, companies involved in the construction and individuals tied to the center that have been threatened or targeted. So far, there have been 23 instances of arson related to the project.
“Because of these actions we’ve had to increase our outside security by $6 million,” Burkes said. “That does not include APD officers who are on 12-hour shifts covering the actual site.”
The attacks have also caused insurance on the project to increase by $400,000 she said.
Other things that have contributed to the cost increase are legal fees and changes made to the project based on recommendations from both the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee and the mayor’s task force.
The city itself is also caught in multiple legal battles over the facility including environmental challenges and litigation over a referendum effort. Attorneys for the city confirmed to City Council that the total price tag of the pending court cases has reached over $1 million.
The city’s Chief Financial Officer Mohamed Balla also said there will likely be at least a 15% increase to construction costs due to inflation, but rising prices of materials isn’t the biggest contributor to the increased costs.
“This isn’t any shocking news, in terms of price being more than anticipated,” Balla said. “What’s been kind of different about this is the type of increases we’ve been seeing. We’re seeing increases from things we traditionally don’t see (like) additional security and insurance.”
Credit: Jenn Finch
Credit: Jenn Finch
Dickens and his predecessor, Former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, touted the 85-acre training center as a crucial need for the city’s police and firefighters who are currently training in decaying, and some even condemned, buildings.
But pushback to its location in the South River Forest from environmental activists and fears of increased policing from community members — many of whom live in areas close to the site — has propelled the project into both the local and national spotlight.
Despite an effort to get the training center in front of voters through a ballot referendum, and consistent vandalism to the construction site and its equipment by more extreme opponents, the mayor’s office said Wednesday that the project is still on track to be completed by December 2024.
“We are moving forward as planned and not allowing distractions to deter us from improving the safety of Atlantans by completing the public safety training center,” Dickens said in a statement Wednesday.
The plans for the training center include a burn building, firing range, stables for police horses, an emergency vehicle course, a gym and multiple academic buildings with classrooms and administrative offices.
Dickens’ hand-picked training center task force made up of both opponents and supporters of the project, submitted more than 100 recommendations in August of changes or improvements to the project plan, which the mayor’s office said city departments will work on implementing.
City Council members voiced concern that requirements outlined in past legislation to increase transparency from the Atlanta Police Foundation were not being fulfilled. The body passed a bill that required both quarterly presentations from the foundation to the public safety committee and another that requests a City Council member placed on the nonprofit’s executive board.
“There are questions on here that we need to be able to ask them for the sake of transparency,” said council member Liliana Bakhtiari, an outspoken opponent of the project. “And it is a problem that they have punted, about four times now, these meetings.”
“There are things they need to be asked on the record to be accountable to, not in the privacy of closed doors,” she said.
Credit: Jenn Finch
Credit: Jenn Finch
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