As Texas buildings crumble, repair price grows to $1 billion

An unimposing three-story building off Interstate 20 in Fort Worth could soon be at the heart of budget discussions in the Texas Legislature.

The Fort Worth State Office Building is one of more than 100 facilities in Texas that house state agencies and need long-deferred repairs with a collective price tag of about $1 billion.

Some problems are easy to see: holes and cracks in walls, leaky roofs, rat and bat infestations. Others, ranging from aging electrical systems to outdated mechanical and communication systems, aren’t as evident.

“You’ve got to spend the money on these buildings to maintain them,” Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, has said. “It is a waste of taxpayer money to let these buildings [get] in these conditions and continue to accrue deferred maintenance.”

Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, said he has a plan to fix the buildings — by drawing money from the state’s rainy-day fund, which could grow to $11.1 billion by 2017.

He proposes transferring $500 million to fix state agency buildings and another $500 million to repair public university buildings.

“If your roof is leaking, you wouldn’t wait to fix it,” Turner said. “You would take money out of your savings account and take care of it before it got worse.

“Many of our state agencies and institutions of higher education are beyond leaky roofs. And the longer we wait to fix them, the more it will cost,” he said. “It’s time to take some money out of our state’s savings account and address this issue.”

The issue of crumbling state buildings and what should be done first arose during Senate Finance Committee hearings this year.

Turner’s two bills have been referred to the House Appropriations Committee. No hearings have been scheduled.

Tarrant County buildings

Locally, two facilities could gain funding for repairs under Turner’s proposal.

The Fort Worth State Office Building, near Tarrant County College South Campus, lists more than $250,000 in high-priority needs, according to Turner’s office.

The 70,000-square-foot building, also called the Health and Human Services State Office Building, houses local offices for agencies such as the state health department, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

The building needs repairs to mechanical systems and a generator, as well as work on the communication and security systems and chillers, according to the Texas Facilities Commission’s 2014 Master Facilities Plan Report.

It also needs more energy conservation to meet state mandates, and architectural and mechanical inspections, the master report shows.

Maintenance workers at the building referred all questions about repairs to state officials.

“If not addressed soon, it could negatively impact the agencies housed in the facility and ultimately, the Texans who go there for state services,” Turner said.

The University of Texas at Arlington is mentioned as needing more than $7 million in repairs this year. The work would include repairing roofs, replacing air-conditioning systems and lights, and fixing plumbing systems.

UT Arlington officials declined to comment on the legislation.

Turner said, “With a robust economy and money in our state’s rainy-day fund, now is the time to address these needs and to make these buildings safer for residents, students, visitors and employees.”

Holes in walls

The problems at state buildings came to the Legislature’s attention this year during a Senate Finance Committee meeting, when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said he was stunned to see the condition of some of his agency’s field offices.

“I have absolutely been shocked and utterly embarrassed by the condition of some of my field offices,” he said. “I really have almost no words to describe. We have not updated basic facilities for quite some time. And I wish I would have toured those offices quite some time ago.”

The problems don’t stop there.

In the comptroller’s office in the Lyndon B. Johnson State Office Building, just blocks from the Texas Capitol, a hole in a restroom wall was “fixed” when someone stuffed toilet tissue in it. In another area, blankets are hung on walls not as decoration but to muffle the sounds from restrooms.

“I may not be a big fan of The Wizard of Oz, but I know what Dorothy felt like,” Hegar told lawmakers. “We are not in the Capitol anymore. And that’s fine.

“We do not need the best, finest facilities. But basic sanitation in facilities [is] really needed for our state employees.”

But employees aren’t complaining, he said.

“They just show up at work and do their job,” Hegar said. “It is my responsibility … to step up and say we need to do something.

“We just want something that’s sanitary, that’s clean.”

More than paint

Problems at state agencies in Austin don’t begin and end at the LBJ building.

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, noted that the Texas School for the Deaf is dealing with bats and other rodents as well as plumbing and sewer failures.

Various rodents — dead and alive — have been found on top of the building and under it. And because the fire alarm system stopped working, employees had to patrol the grounds and watch for fires.

A state report also cites serious problems with the electrical, sewer and security systems, the roof, and even “asbestos-laden” floor tiles. Some areas have no heat; others have no air conditioning.

“It’s horrible, horrible conditions,” Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, has said.

Issues at the Texas attorney general’s office include broken elevators and leaky roofs.

The Facilities Commission’s report says that if needed work isn’t done in a year, “the costs of maintenance, repair or replacement are significantly higher in subsequent years.”

“What we’re talking about are not coats of paint,” Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, has said. “We’re talking about areas of deterioration that substantively affect the working environment — cracks in walls, facilities that don’t operate.

“Things you would expect more of a building that was going to be condemned than used for purposes important to the state of Texas.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 2:03 PM with the headline "As Texas buildings crumble, repair price grows to $$1 billion."