Just wondering what everybody’s thoughts are on the new courthouse…..here’s some interesting facts about it’s construction.
TOTAL PROGRAM BUDGET:
The entire courthouse program budget is set by ordinance at $350 million. This figure includes $64.3 million spent to-date on property acquisition, utility relocation, and previous project efforts.
The budget covers expenditures for the unified court facility, renovations to the Old Federal Courthouse for the State Attorney’s Office, and office space for the Public Defender.
Funding Sources:
Better Jacksonville Plan: $211 million
($190 million plus $21 million from ‘vertical contigency’)
Court Facilities Trust Fund: $811,000
Court Documents Facility: $3,397,000
Traffic Fine Surcharge: $48,292,000
COJ Capital Project Funding: $86.5 million
PROJECT HISTORY:
Duval County opened its current courthouse on East Bay Street over 50 years ago, in a time before consolidation and when the entire county’s population was just over 450,000. It is only the fourth courthouse in the county’s 175-year history.
In 2000, when the Better Jacksonville Plan passed, Duval County’s population had swelled to over three-quarters of a million people. A county’s judicial requirements directly correspond to its population, so while the number of people using the courthouse had grown significantly, the facility itself had not.
The original Better Jacksonville Plan work program earmarked $190 million for the courthouse project. That figure was increased by $21 million through funding from the BJP Vertical Contingency line item in the work program.
The initial effort to construct the courthouse was stopped in 2003. The city elected to pursue a design/build approach, and ultimately contracted with Turner Construction/KBJ Architects in 2008 to complete the project.