Sticker shock: $1.2 million morgue price tag sends Dougherty officials back to drawing board

ALBANY — Add a new morgue to the list that includes cars, gasoline and toilet paper of products producing sticker shock these days. An estimate for a new morgue facility left Dougherty County commissioners seeking options.

“When I opened this up and saw this Friday, I nearly hit the floor,” Commissioner Ed Newsome, who chairs the commission’s Finance Committee, said of the cost. “I think we need to look at a condensed version. I don’t think there’s any question the morgue should have been built a long time ago.”

The current estimate to build the 3,700-square-foot structure, which includes refrigerated space for holding bodies and administrative and office areas, is about $1.2 million.

About $414,000 was designated for the project. The first draft, before offices for Coroner Michael Fowler and staff were added, came in at about $880,000. Fowler currently stores bodies in space rented at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

Albany architect David Maschke, who designed the structure slated to go onto county property on Habersham Road that houses other facilities, including Dougherty County Public Works, said the high cost of building materials is part of the reason the estimate is so far above the budgeted amount.

The initial allotment of $414,000 also seemed to be an arbitrary number formulated during the process of selecting projects for a sales tax initiative that did not reflect the true cost, he said. If construction is delayed for some time, the current high market prices could settle back down.

“The market is very difficult right now,” Maschke said. “I think the idea here was trying to move forward in getting the plans ready so when the market improves to hit it (quickly). It’s difficult to get competitive prices right now.”

In addition to paring down the project and delaying construction for more favorable construction prices, one option suggested was to seek grant funding.

“When you’re talking about an $800,000 shortfall, that’s a lot of roads that could be paved, a lot of alleys that could be paved,” Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said. “It’s a necessity to have a morgue. We need to do this. We can’t do it at these costs.

“I’m just wondering if there’s a way to do it with half the square footage.”

Cohilas instructed staff to investigate the alternatives mentioned with an eye toward cutting costs or identifying other funding sources.

Fowler, whose office currently is in the Dougherty County Courthouse downtown, said he can accept the commission’s decision, even if it means just building a structure to store bodies with no office space.

Building a “state-of-the-art” morgue should be the important consideration, Commissioner Anthony Jones responded to Fowler’s remark.

“I don’t want to change a thing,” he said. “I want to figure out a way for us to pay for it.”