Johnson County staff is asking for an estimated $30.1 million over the next five years to support major renovations of the Health and Human Services building, the Ambulance and Medical Examiner building, the Johnson County Courthouse, and the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm. 

Updates to the Health and Human Services building, totaling $16.9 million of the estimated budget, will go to renovated staff support rooms, public health offices, and the relocation of the Juvenile Court Services and the Department of Public Health.

“There’s construction inflation, materials, and labor. It is something that’s affecting all projects across the United States,” Zach Writer, the main facilitator in the renovation project with OPN Architects, said at a Johnson County Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday. “We’re not unique in any way so it does affect us also.”

Building materials substantially increased, raising the project’s previous estimate of $28.8 million to $30.1 million.

Writer said renovations and construction of the Human Services building and Ambulance Medical Examiner buildings are slated to be half-way completed by December 2027. 

American Rescue Plan Act funding was allocated to Johnson County to provide support to local businesses and workers during the peak of COVID-19.

The renovation project is also allocating $2.5 million of ARPA funding for fiscal 2023 to help create a workspace that mitigates the spread of COVID-19 and improve and adapt the current physical spaces.

“We’re doing HVAC improvements, which will help mitigate the COVID-19 spread, and then also we’re adding glass in front of each department instead of the Plexiglass,” Writer said. “There’s a lot that we’ve done.”