The Jefferson Performing Arts Center, that once visionary home for the parish's theatrical set turned into maddening boondoggle for officials and taxpayers alike, will again see its price tag rise, this time past $44.7 million. But by how much is still very much a moving target.
The Jefferson Performing Arts Center, that once visionary
home for the parish's theatrical set turned into maddening boondoggle for
officials and taxpayers alike, will again see its price tag rise, this time
past $44.7 million. But by how much is still very much a moving target.
The $44.7 million Jefferson Performing Arts Center could tack on another $8.2 million to its budget before it's done.Parish President John Young's administration has asked the Legislature for $8.2 million, a change order that could push the total spending on the six-year-old project past $53 million and nearly double its $26.6 million original budget.
"I would be very, very pleased, of course, and surprised if that funding comes through," said Rubye Noble, the Jefferson delegation's legislative liaison. "We know that the parish president has been very, very actively pursuing that funding."
However, Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has agreed to pony up only $2.6 million, according to officials and a May 16 e-mail from parish lobbyist Jennifer Ansardi that The Times-Picayune obtained.
With two weeks left in the 2012 legislative session, Young remains hopeful the Jefferson delegation can squeeze more cash from the state's capital outlay budget.
"There are numbers floating around and that's one of them," he said of the $2.6 million. "Things are still very much in flux."
The performing arts center has wallowed in rising costs, delays and even a lawsuit since its groundbreaking in 2007. The state legislative auditor excoriated the project in October, describing it as a poorly managed mess riddled with questionable accounting and possible violations of public bid laws. Jefferson Parish attorneys, annoyed by design flaw after design flaw undermining construction, sued the original architect, Wisznia & Associates.
With seven multi-million change orders already on the books, asking for more money has become an unwanted mantra for the project's purse-holders. In 2010, the parish took out a $7.5 million line of credit from the state government to cover the latest increase.
The 2012-2013 capital outlay budget, known as House Bill 2, passed the House 84-15 last week and was assigned Monday to the Senate Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Committee. That bill had no money put aside for the Jefferson Performing Arts Center, leaving any additions to be made by state senators.
The $2.6 million offer came from Paul Rainwater, Jindal's Division of Administration director, said state Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie. He added that it will be difficult to ask for more, considering the state has already spent $28.7 million on the project.
"There are a lot of north Louisiana legislators that are questioning the cost-overruns, and why we're requesting so much money for this building," Martiny said. "It's something that has to be handled very delicately with our colleagues."
Before asking for more money, Parish Councilman Chris Roberts said he first wanted assurances that parish officials had addressed the legislative auditor's criticisms. He pointed specifically to a $5.6 million change order in 2009 that caused some friction in then Parish President Aaron Broussard's administration. Capital Projects Director Reda Youssef had argued at the time that the project needed no more than $2.8 million to be finished, but Chief Administrative Officer Tim Whitmer ordered the full amount paid anyway.
"Even if we are to get more state money, which will certainly
help the parish, we need someone to make the determination that that prior
change order was appropriate," he said. "Sooner or later someone has to say
look, Reda's concerns are valid or invalid."
Young said parish attorneys, department directors and outside counsel and consultants, were combing through the audit.
"The due diligence is being done on that," he said.
Parish Council Chairman Elton Lagasse worried that the bulk
of the $8.2 million will have to be covered by parish coffers. He also said
that the engineering firm managing the project, Perrin & Carter Inc., had
agreed that construction delays caused by negotiations and redesigns were
responsible for roughly $5 million of that new expense. The builder, Joe Caldarera & Co., requested $8.4 million last year to cover those alleged delays.
"I got a real problem with that. I don't think we've delayed them at all," Lagasse said, pointing to the $7.8 million granted in 2010, money he said was backed by council members' discretionary spending. "We've given them money whenever we could."
A message seeking comment Monday from Perrin & Carter principle Mike Carter went unreturned.
"I don't know who to believe," Lagasse said.