Yuma County supervisors seek details as building costs surge

In March 2024, the Board of Supervisors trimmed nearly $16.8 million from county building construction and remodeling budgets after estimates rose from a 2021 combined total of $70 million to $108 million. That correction brought the revised total to $91.6 million. The board’s caution followed months of budget resets that have already forced millions of dollars in cuts and left some facilities scaled back from their original scope.

The Administration Services building budget stayed unchanged, but the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension project was cut from $8 million to $5.5 million, the Yuma County Public Health Services Expansion fell from $27 million to $20.5 million, and the ITS/Public Fiduciary/Facilities Management facility was reduced from $18 million to $10.23 million. The Historic Courthouse remodel and the relocation of Emergency Management were also part of the countywide repricing.

The jump came from construction inflation, scope growth and some early underestimation of costs. By December 2023, the county had already approved more than $2 million for design-preconstruction work on the health department expansion and more than $96,000 for preliminary design of the new Cooperative Extension building, with Mortenson-Cunningham selected as the design-build team. Dave Hyland, who oversees county building projects, said then that the health department project carried a total budget of $27 million. Chairman Martin Porchas said the health department plan had started during the COVID-19 pandemic and had become more expensive than expected.

Supervisor Tony Reyes warned in July 2024 that the county needed to move quickly once projects were ready to bid. "We need to get these things out to bid quickly because inflation or whatever it is that is happening in the building industry is starting to create a lot of discrepancies on budget," Reyes said. At that point, the county was planning about $250 million in more than 100 projects over five years, with more than $130 million set for the following year alone.

The capital plan put the new county administration building at more than $30 million, the renovated courthouse at just over $2.5 million, the health department at more than $1 million and the Cooperative Extension relocation at more than $5 million. The new facilities were expected to improve downtown Yuma and provide energy-efficiency benefits. The courthouse work was expected to create a new Justice Court area, but it was still in the early stages.

The pressure on capital spending carried into April 2026, when County Administrator Ian McGaughey presented a recommended $535.6 million budget for fiscal year 2026/27, the first to come out of the county’s new Five-Year Planning initiative. The proposal included a 2.42-cent property tax rate increase, no net increase in workforce, a projected year-end General Fund balance of about 24.26% of total uses and a $5 million recession contingency. It also kept capital work on the table for ITS and Facilities Management, the Sheriff’s Office Foothills Substation expansion and the Cooperative Extension building.