This week, Pensacola News Journal published an article calling out Escambia County for what it believed was a significant cost overrun on the new Brownsville Library. Headline: The remodel of the old Masonic Lodge in Brownsville runs nearly $700,000 over budget. Here’s why.
The article was so off-base that Escambia County corrected the newspaper’s narrative by pointing out that the project’s budget is $3.1 million, and the expenditures, including three change orders, only totaled $2.77 million. The county even shared an October 2023 press release to support its post. Listen to Kaycee Lagarde’s explanation.
How has the PNJ handled other projects that actually did run over budget?
New Escambia County Jail
Background: Escambia County Corrections lost more than 600 beds in 2014 when a basement flood and subsequent explosion destroyed the Central Booking and Detention Center. As a result, inmates were housed in the existing jail and temporarily at several nearby facilities.
In August 2017, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously selected the bid submitted by Whitesell-Green and Caddell for $128.6 million, plus $5.8 million for upgrades. The construction started in 2018, a year before the BCC hired Janice Gilley as the county administrator.
- The construction was completed in March 2021 and cost $142 million, according to the PNJ. Gilley presided over the ribbon-cutting. The PNJ article failed to mention that the project was $7.6 million over budget.
Why? Janice Gilley, whose administrator rarely got scruntized by the News Journal, got a pass.
Kingsfield Elementary School
Background: In January 2017, the Escambia County School Board approved the construction of Kingsfield Elementary School to be built next to Ransom Middle School. Budget: $25 million. When the school opened in August 2018, the PNJ wrote the school cost $30 million. Again, the $5 million in change orders were not reported.
Why? Superintendent Malcolm Thomas, another longtime PNJ favorite, got a pass.
More Whys
Cost overruns happen for various reasons.
- About a third of the cost changes for the Masonic Lodge were due to termite damage discovered in the 70-year-old building.
Why did the PNJ suddenly jump on the renovation of this historic building that will add a library to a much-underserved part of Escambia County?
- Does the newspaper not support revitalizing Brownsville?
- Is it another slap at Commissioner Lumon May who has championed the project in District 3?
- Did County Clerk Pam Childers make a phone call and give another “news tip” to the PNJ?
- Is the newspaper trying to undermine how County Administrator Wes Moreno has turned around county operations since Gilley was fired?
- Why didn’t the PNJ correct the story after the county revealed the misinformation?
- How many clicks did the article get the newspaper?
Photo by Ryan Riggins on Unsplash
