Crawford County Jail: Project status, changes to financing schedule


Pictures from the entrance to the Crawford County Courthouse. According to Kraemer Brothers, the construction is “mostly on scheduled,” with a few minor setbacks from excavation. (Steve Van Kooten/Courier Press)
By Steve Van Kooten
The Crawford County Finance Committee’s January meeting primarily provided updates about the replacement jail (or variably called the “justice center”) project.
Greg Callin, vice president of client services for Kraemer Brothers, provided a construction update on the project, which has made significant progress, even during January’s cold temperatures.
“The structure is going up. It’s coming along nicely. The schedule is on track, with a kind of minor one- to two-week delay we had during excavation. Overall the project is going very well,” he said.
Callin added that those types of setbacks are not uncommon for projects in the early stages of construction.
According to the project update, the first floor walls and installation of flat slabs on the southern section of the new building were supposed to be completed by the end of January.
Kraemer Brothers reported that the project had 49 requests for information (RFIs) to architects, of which six to eight could have cost implications. In each of those RFIs, project costs could increase or decrease depending on the information provided by the architects.
RFIs are used to clarify details in construction documents.
”There’s no architect on the planet [that] has created the perfect set of plans. You know, we always find a gap,” Callin said. “This is why a contingency is established within the budget to be able to manage that. We’re always going to look at that in a way to minimize cost.”
Kraemer Brothers provided a few examples of RFIs to the finance committee, including dropping ceiling height in a portion of the building to increase space for mechanical systems needed in that area and the addition of a ceiling to cover plumbing pipes in another area of the facility.
Financing
Finance Committee Chair Gary Koch said the county will be altering the amount of their second borrowing for the project, which is scheduled to take place in the spring of this year.
“We were thinking about doing $13 million, $13 million and $9 million in three different financings, but this one [the second] is going to be $18 million,” he said. “I don’t want to be [in] December 2025 and all of a sudden we don’t have any borrowed money for the jail and we haven’t borrowed the remainder. So, the idea is to beef up our draw.”
The project’s total cost is still projected to be $35 million, and new projections estimate the total spent on the debt service by the county will be around $52 million, with an annual debt service of $2.5 million over 21 years, according to Carol Wirth, president of Wisconsin Public Finance Professionals. WPFP acts as Crawford County’s financial advisor for the jail project.
Despite the big numbers, Wirth told the committee that the financial outlook for the project has improved, though she stipulated that the numbers could change.
“We’d be about $5 million under what we were originally projecting. I think we have a lot of room here to come in under what we estimated,” she said.
Crawford County has made an estimated $5.8 million in payments toward the project through the end of January, which currently leaves approximately $7.2 million remaining in borrowed funds. WFPF estimates those funds will be expended by this May.Project costs through February 2026 are estimated to be $16.8 million.
Going forward
Construction milestones in the near future include the installation of mechanical systems in the mezzanine floor and wall panels on the north and east. Those tasks are expected to be completed by mid-February.
By May, the new building is expected to be fully enclosed, and the transition to the new structure will be completed by April 2026.
Financially, the county board of supervisors is expected to adopt a resolution to set the sale for the next borrowing on Feb. 18. That same day, the county will have a ratings conference call with Moody’s Investor Service.
In early March, bids for the $18 million promissory notes will be accepted and verified by WFPF. The county board will then adopt another resolution that will award the notes to the successful bidder.
By the end of that month, all funds are expected to be delivered to the county.
The third and final round of borrowing is expected to take place in March next year. The estimated total is currently $4 million; however, that number may change depending on the project’s needs.
“That phase 3 is customizable to your needs. If you don’t need $4 million, you don’t borrow $4 million,” Wirth said.