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County hopes to save millions in CDOT project fees
Douglas County officials wonder how much of the fees it pays the Colorado Department of Transportation for construction engineering is put back into the county by CDOT.
By By:Kiersten J. Mayer
Douglas County officials wonder how much of the fees it pays the Colorado Department of Transportation for construction engineering is put back into the county by CDOT.
When CDOT chooses a qualified contractor for a road construction project, a 20.83 percent fee is added to the cost of construction as of July 1. These fees pay for CDOT staff and consultants. The agency collects this money and puts it in a statewide pool, and if there's a surplus between CDOT's cost for a project and what an entity pays, it's kept in the pool for use on other CDOT projects.
For Art Griffith, Douglas County capital improvements projects manager, this means Douglas County tax dollars are paying for construction engineering costs on other projects across the state.
"The percentage amount doesn't always correlate with the actual fees for a project," he said. "There always seems to be a surplus that goes to the CE [construction engineering] pool."
Griffith said county staff could provide construction engineering supervision on projects the county contributes to, with the aid of consultants who have expertise in that field.
For example, CDOT supporting staff on the Castle Pines North interchange project came from consultants that CDOT hired.
Those are consultants Douglas County also has access to, he said.
Griffith would like CDOT to consider not charging Douglas County the standard CE fee when local agencies are contributing to construction projects, he said.
"It should be negotiated to represent a more fair share," he said. "My point is we are getting some benefit, but a lot of that money is moved to other projects."
The Castle Pines North interchange was the only major project with CDOT for their fiscal year of July 2004 to July 2005, he said.
Griffith said it appears Douglas County paid $856,000 in CE fees on the project that was bid for $6.7 million project as of June 30.
Sixty percent of CDOT's construction employees who manage construction projects have retired in the last five years, and the majority have gone to work for consulting firms. And that's where we find our pool of consultants, he said.
For the upcoming Douglas Lane interchange, Douglas County could Griffith said he is estimating the construction costs at $24 million.
"We are budgeting five percent for construction engineering, which is $1.2 million," he said. "If CDOT was to manage the project, using their current CE pool rate of 20.83 percent, that magically comes out to be $5 million."
That would be an additional $3.8 million in CE if CDOT manages the project. Or, if you want to be more proactive, if Douglas County manages the project, it saves $3.8 million, he said.
Because of the way CDOT manages its CE fund, costs are not charged to a specific project, said Jim Bemelan, CDOT regional office project manager. All fees from around the state are placed in a single fund, and there is not way to track how much of the fees paid by Douglas County are spent on CE services on a specific project.
Each CDOT program engineer's staff charges for construction engineering expenses to a program area, Bemelan said. For example, Region 1 has three program areas, so there's no individual tracking of how the fees are spent.
"We don't know how much of the 20.83 percent that local government paid is spent on a specific project," he said.
CDOT employees itemize what they charge their time to, Bemelan said. A materials tester can write down his time, but may be working on multiple active projects in different program areas in the region.
Bemelan doesn't dispute money paid into the CE fund by one county is often used to pay for projects in other areas. The fees help out more in more remote areas and the pool concept evens out costs across the state, he said.
CDOT used to account for its fees on a project-specific basis about 10 or 15 years ago, Bemelan said, adding he has asked his superiors why the agency doesn't go back to a more detailed accounting. He was told there were headaches with that system.
Contact Kiersten J. Mayer at kmayer@ccnewspapers.net.
When CDOT chooses a qualified contractor for a road construction project, a 20.83 percent fee is added to the cost of construction as of July 1. These fees pay for CDOT staff and consultants. The agency collects this money and puts it in a statewide pool, and if there's a surplus between CDOT's cost for a project and what an entity pays, it's kept in the pool for use on other CDOT projects.
For Art Griffith, Douglas County capital improvements projects manager, this means Douglas County tax dollars are paying for construction engineering costs on other projects across the state.
"The percentage amount doesn't always correlate with the actual fees for a project," he said. "There always seems to be a surplus that goes to the CE [construction engineering] pool."
Griffith said county staff could provide construction engineering supervision on projects the county contributes to, with the aid of consultants who have expertise in that field.
For example, CDOT supporting staff on the Castle Pines North interchange project came from consultants that CDOT hired.
Those are consultants Douglas County also has access to, he said.
Griffith would like CDOT to consider not charging Douglas County the standard CE fee when local agencies are contributing to construction projects, he said.
"It should be negotiated to represent a more fair share," he said. "My point is we are getting some benefit, but a lot of that money is moved to other projects."
The Castle Pines North interchange was the only major project with CDOT for their fiscal year of July 2004 to July 2005, he said.
Griffith said it appears Douglas County paid $856,000 in CE fees on the project that was bid for $6.7 million project as of June 30.
Sixty percent of CDOT's construction employees who manage construction projects have retired in the last five years, and the majority have gone to work for consulting firms. And that's where we find our pool of consultants, he said.
For the upcoming Douglas Lane interchange, Douglas County could Griffith said he is estimating the construction costs at $24 million.
"We are budgeting five percent for construction engineering, which is $1.2 million," he said. "If CDOT was to manage the project, using their current CE pool rate of 20.83 percent, that magically comes out to be $5 million."
That would be an additional $3.8 million in CE if CDOT manages the project. Or, if you want to be more proactive, if Douglas County manages the project, it saves $3.8 million, he said.
Because of the way CDOT manages its CE fund, costs are not charged to a specific project, said Jim Bemelan, CDOT regional office project manager. All fees from around the state are placed in a single fund, and there is not way to track how much of the fees paid by Douglas County are spent on CE services on a specific project.
Each CDOT program engineer's staff charges for construction engineering expenses to a program area, Bemelan said. For example, Region 1 has three program areas, so there's no individual tracking of how the fees are spent.
"We don't know how much of the 20.83 percent that local government paid is spent on a specific project," he said.
CDOT employees itemize what they charge their time to, Bemelan said. A materials tester can write down his time, but may be working on multiple active projects in different program areas in the region.
Bemelan doesn't dispute money paid into the CE fund by one county is often used to pay for projects in other areas. The fees help out more in more remote areas and the pool concept evens out costs across the state, he said.
CDOT used to account for its fees on a project-specific basis about 10 or 15 years ago, Bemelan said, adding he has asked his superiors why the agency doesn't go back to a more detailed accounting. He was told there were headaches with that system.
Contact Kiersten J. Mayer at kmayer@ccnewspapers.net.
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