Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

NORTH OGDEN — After 10 years of on-and-off discussion, ground has officially been broken on what will be perhaps the costliest project in North Ogden history — a new police department building.

City leaders, though, emphasize that it’s not going to be an over-the-top structure with excessive bells and whistles. Rather, the focus will be on alleviating crowding in the existing structure at 515 E. 2600 North and giving police a more modern, safe place to work.

“This is something that’s been needed in our city for an extremely long time and it’s finally coming to fruition,” Mayor Neal Berube said. North Ogden, like other Weber County cities, has been growing. The police force now counts 22 sworn officers.

Berube, Police Chief Dirk Quinney, numerous police officers and other city officials and residents were on hand for Thursday’s ceremony just east of the existing police department on open ground where the new 25,000-square-foot structure is to be built. The estimated cost is $12.4 million, according to contractor Big-D Construction, though city officials have earmarked up to $13.75 million for the building. Of the $13.75 million, $4 million is to come from existing city coffers and $9.75 million will come from bond funding.

The work is to take 12 to 14 months and when complete, police will move into the new structure and the old one will be demolished. The new building will also house North Ogden Justice Court, same as the existing structure, as well as code enforcement and animal control offices, or around 30 workers in all.

Photo supplied

According to Big-D Construction, the existing public safety building dates to 1962 and has undergone “multiple additions” since then.

Berube has called the project the costliest in city history, and the new estimated price tag ranging from $12.4-13.75 million represents a jump from the original $9.6 million cost estimate. Inflation and the rising prices of building materials pushed the cost up, also requiring officials last month to agree to a second bond to cover the higher price tag.

Indeed, some along the way grumbled about the cost and Berube — who says public safety is the top responsibility of local government — lauded city officials for pursuing the project. “This is not easy to build a facility of this size and magnitude without having courage,” he said.

The launch of work also comes as North Ogden officials are mulling a property tax hike for fiscal year 2023, subject of a truth in taxation hearing on Aug. 9. Berube emphasized that the cost of the police structure does not figure in the proposed tax hike.

The city proposal calls for a maximum tax hike of 41.55%, which would boost collections of $1.8 million for 2022 to $2.54 million for 2023, not including revenue brought on by new growth. Berube, though, said officials will probably seek “considerably less” than the maximum 41.55% hike when finalizing the budget, though he didn’t provide a specific figure.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

He said the extra funding is needed to correct an “accounting error” in city record keeping, to boost city workers’ compensation by an average of 5.75%, to cover rising fuel costs for the city’s fleet of vehicles and for possible mid-year pay hikes.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with the correct day of the groundbreaking ceremony.

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