Tega Cay outgrew its police station. But a new one? It won’t come cheap.

If the vote were as simple as needing a police station, half of Tega Cay City Council could make it on their way out the door. It isn’t.

“It’s definitely a need,” said Councilman David O’Neal, who in January will become the city’s next mayor. “The problem is the cost. Everybody wants everything they can get until they see how much it costs.”

Council met a special workshop meeting recently to lay out options for a new station. Though most members present won’t be around to make a final decision.

Mayor George Sheppard, along with council members Dottie Hersey and Jennifer Stalford, wrap up their terms this year. Only Councilman Ryan Richard keeps his same seat, with O’Neal becoming mayor and new Councilwomen-elect Alicia Dasch and Heather Overman joining.

“It’s going to involve both councils, for sure,” O’Neal said of the police decision, next slated for discussion in December. “And that’s the way it should be.”

Last year, the city hired Moseley Architects to study needs and show options for a new building. Presented at the workshop meeting, that study found numerous areas the existing station is lacking. All related to one point.

“The current building was not built to be a police station,” architect Chris Steude said.

The former office building has narrow halls and no ramps in the back, both causing non-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are no holding cells for prisoners. Offices are shared or multi-purpose. Vehicles park where officers train. There is one bathroom area shared by staff, the public and people just arrested. Interview rooms and space for evidence storage are needs.

So is security, where ballistic protection and suspect transport safety are concerns typical offices don’t have.

“Right now, you do not have that, and it’s a volatile situation,” said architect and long-time city resident Dan Mace.

His firm estimates the city will need about 17,000 square feet of space to meet needs for the next 15 years. They whittled the number to a 14,500-square-foot proposal to dampen costs. Still a good bit larger than the 9,500 square feet now used by police.

Mace estimates a new station would run the city about $3.5 million. If the city builds on the land it already has, in front of the current station. The existing building, which has a cracking foundation and water issues, could be used for storage or at some point come down with future station expansion.

That $3.5 million estimate came in about $1 million higher than O’Neal anticipated. Putting him back at the funding question.

“I don’t think there’s anybody that wants to do a tax increase,” O’Neal said.

The city could hold a bond referendum. Cities can borrow up to 8 percent of their total assessed property value, which in Tega Cay is about $51 million. The city has about $2.8 million of that $4.1 million capacity tied to other debt, like the fire station approved last year. Debt payments aren’t expected to drop until after 2030.

The best option according to First Tryon Advisors, the financial firm also presenting the city possibilities at the Nov. 13 meeting, may be a 15-year installment purchase revenue bond. That type of bond doesn’t require a referendum and isn’t limited to the 8 percent of assessed value. It is a little more expensive than some other bonds.

Based on that 15-year bond, the city would have to find up to $187,000 in its annual budget. Or equal to more than 3 mills, with each mill levied now generating about $57,000.

Sheppard sees at least one option outside of raising taxes. Tega Cay pays $15 a month per home for trash and recycling collection, for more than 3,800 homes. If residents paid $4 of that amount, the money saved could cover the debt for a police station.

“There’s your $188,000,” Sheppard said. “And there’s no tax increase.”

Hersey said while the math works, Council needs to look beyond any one project in determining what the city can afford.

“I don’t know that anybody at the table doubts that we need a new police station,” she said, noting final say will come from the incoming council after she leaves. “But you ought to be spitballing a little bit about what other major types of (costs) we can anticipate over the next X years that are going to be big ticket items that we also need to find money for along the way.”

Then comes the issue of who all should pay for the new station. The trash collection solution only involves homeowners.

“I liked that idea initially, but there’s no way to get the commercial (entities) involved,” O’Neal said.

Options for including residential and commercial properties — a tax rate change, public referendum, new impact development fees — would take much longer than plans discussed at the meeting.

City Police Chief Steve Parker said waiting could brings its own costs. Next September, he said, the city will no longer be able to use the jail in Fort Mill and will have transport its prisoners to Moss Justice Center in York.

“With that, there’s going to be a need — unless we have a newer building — that we’ll have to go to five officers per shift just for the three hours it’ll cost us for transport and booking, going back and forth,” Parker said.

Charlie Funderburk, city manager, said the city has a capital needs plan outlining where money will be needed in coming years. While new costs could emerge, the police station and Catawba Park sit atop that list.

“Those are your next big projects for the foreseeable future,” Funderburk said.

If the city started a ball rolling on the police station in December, the most aggressive timeline wouldn’t have construction starting until next summer. It likely would be a year or more from that point before a new station opens.

Almost since the police department moved into its current home in 2005, leaders have known a new station would be needed.

“It worked, suited the need, for probably the first three, four years,” Funderburk said. “It caught us up for that first three or four years. But even then, all the issues that are presenting today, were issues when it came online.”

Now the issue is figuring out how to fund it.

“Both,” O’Neal said, asked whether city leaders or residents more often bring up the needed station. “But that's the reason we’re taking our time on it, is we want to get a lot of public feedback.”

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Tega Cay outgrew its police station. But a new one? It won’t come cheap.."