Caputi: The cost behind Scottsdale fire training facility

In the bond 2019 election, Scottsdale voters approved the construction of a fire training facility. I did not say a “new” fire training facility, because we’ve never had one.

Our firefighters have been training in mobile storage units and portable trailers, or at other cities’ facilities when they have space. The fire department has long needed a contemporary training facility, and it’s now a critical issue. A large portion of current firefighters are eligible for retirement in 2025, and without a training facility for our new recruits, trucks cannot be staffed, and stations will close.

Council has heard criticisms about the new fire training facility due to its increased costs. These are good questions, and I appreciate our Bond Oversight Commission for calling them out. The cost increases are due to two factors.

First, the project was estimated in 2018. Almost six years and a global pandemic later, the world is a very different place. Construction costs nationwide have undergone a 46% increase between 2018 and 2022. Steel prices have risen 70% above 2018 values, electrical equipment is 78% above Jan. 2018 pricing, and asphalt saw increases as high as 165%.

We have a $124 million shortfall in money for bond projects. This is about a 40% increase from original estimates — right in line with these macro cost increases.

I make my living as an electrical materials supplier; I’ve provided lighting and electrical supplies to contractors for 30 years. For the last few years, it has been impossible to hold pricing on projects for more than a month as costs have risen so rapidly. Residents have seen these same rising costs in their daily lives with increases to staple items like gas, vegetables, and eggs.

The second factor increasing the cost is that the design of the new fire training facility has increased to accommodate the necessary functions and the large number of anticipated recruits that the city will need to train. Whether we originally budgeted for a smaller building or not must be balanced with what we need today, and luckily, we have the resources to build it. Thanks to the foresight, planning, and excellent financial decisions of our city manager and previous council, we were able to weather the last few unprecedented years by building up large cash reserves to handle unforeseen emergencies.

We’ve also had a few record years of post-COVID sales tax revenues. (Note: 50% of capital improvement projects are funded by construction sales tax revenue, and collection of this tax lags by several years). We are in a strong cash position, which has allowed us to pay down $60 million of public safety pensions, increase our cash reserves to 25%, and have a $60 million buffer in our Capital Improvement Project budget for exactly these situations.

City staff has kept council and the public updated every step of the way on the status of all the 2019 bond projects, including progress and overruns; there have been no surprises. We have the General Fund dollars available to make up the shortfalls for mission critical projects.

The proceeds from the land sold at 94th Street and Bell has a restricted portion that legally must be used within a few months on projects like the fire training facility — this is a perfect use of tax dollars that greatly benefits our residents.

I stand with our charter officers, city staff, and council members in continuing the excellent work being done to run our successful city. Casting doubt based on inaccurate facts and looking for blame where there should only be accolades detracts from us all.