Tarrant County commissioners voted in favor of spending more taxpayer dollars on a revised feasibility study into the expansion of law enforcement training programs.

The initial study, conducted by Fort Worth-based Komatsu Architecture, explored the possibilities of building a new training center for sheriff’s deputies. However, the price for this new center proved way too steep — $48 million.

“Once that price tag came back pretty high, the idea was that perhaps there’s some intergovernmental leveraging we can use to bring that price down,” explained Commissioner Manny Ramirez before the vote on October 3.

The revised study will explore the matter from new angles, considering more diverse options in terms of location for the new center as well as alternatives involving existing training facilities and collaborations with Tarrant County College.

For instance, a blended option might include building a new indoor gun range at TCC’s Northwest Campus while keeping most training activities at the Resource Connection shared by other county agencies.

The hope is that Komatsu can keep the new training center project within the budget of $11 million. These funds were allocated by county leaders from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The current facility used by sheriff’s deputies is woefully too small for the growing department, according to Sheriff Bill Waybourn, and dates back to the 1970s.

“Provide the sheriff’s office world-class training and really be the model for how to retain, recruit, and train the best jail personnel and sheriff’s office law enforcement personnel in the country,” Ramirez said this summer in support of the endeavor.

Yet there is additional pressure on the timely expediting of the new center project since the federal dollars need to be spent by the end of 2024 and construction complete by the end of 2026.

To expand the scope of its study, Komatsu’s contract needed to be amended, adding $120,798 and bringing the total cost to $229,089.

The commissioners passed this amendment in a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Alisa Simmons opposing.

Nan Terry, a Fort Worth resident, shared Simmons’ misgivings, urging the commissioners to table the matter.

“You’re spending $200,000-plus on a study, basically,” Terry said. “If you spent that money on a plan, what it is that we need, what we could get at some other place, I think it would be money well spent.”