Codington County Jail Project Updates: Construction Remains on Budget Despite Weather Delays

Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - The Codington County Board of Commissioners received a detailed progress report during their Tuesday meeting, revealing that the new jail construction project remains financially healthy and functionally “on pace,” even as unpredictable South Dakota weather has pushed the expected completion date further into 2027.

Commissioner Lee Gabel presented a dashboard from the project’s management firm, Tegra, that broke down the complex, multimillion-dollar venture into specific progress metrics. As of April 7, 2026, the construction itself is officially 17% complete, while “soft costs”—which include professional fees such as architecture and engineering—are 58% complete.

The financial breakdown shows:

·        Construction Cost-to-Date: $5,621,727 (out of a $32,665,397 total budget).

·        Soft Cost-to-Date: $2,546,987 (out of a $4,385,192 total budget).

“Things are going apace,” Commissioner Gabel informed the board. “Just working through the little things, but no big things. The budget looks like it’s in good shape.”

Strategic Use of Contingency Funds

A key highlight of the report was the conservative use of the project’s contingency funds. The board has utilized two separate “pots” of emergency funding to handle unexpected site issues or owner-requested changes.

The Construction Contingency, designed to cover unforeseen field conditions, has been used 21%, with $195,225 spent against the original $925,253 allocation. Meanwhile, the Owner Contingency, reserved for enhancements or modifications requested by the county, remains nearly untouched at just 4% usage ($60,007 spent out of $1.46 million).

Gabel noted that the most recent draw on these funds involved a critical safety upgrade.

“The most recent change order that I signed had to do with a smoke evacuation system,” Gabel explained. “It did use a little bit of contingency for some added features on that one. That had to do with the alarm system that goes with it.”

The original “substantial completion” date of July 19, 2027, has been adjusted by 28 days due to weather-related construction pauses. The “Trending Completion Date” is now set for August 16, 2027.