INDEPENDENCE -- Progress on Buchanan County's proposed jail stalled again after bids once more came in higher than anticipated.

The base offers opened Tuesday were much closer to estimates than the first set received in April. Larson Construction of Independence again submitted the lowest base bid, $4.59 million, but the figure was still about $400,000 more than the county is authorized to spend. A second bid from Tricon Construction Group of Dubuque was $4.79 million.

Sheriff Bill Wolfgram was hopeful an acceptable total would surface after the initial round missed the target by more than $1 million.

"I figured we'd be close. Which way I wasn't sure," he said.

There was some encouragement for Wolfgram and others, however. With the six alternate bids, Larson's amount was reduced by $249,000. That opened the door to possible negotiations with the construction company to see if anything else could be cut out or changed to squeeze the remaining $200,000.

The county has 30 days to decide whether to accept the bids.

The alternatives include nixing a sally port for prisoner transportation and kitchen equipment, not finishing the second floor of the sheriff's office and changing some cells. Wolfgram, however, said the existing jail design was "pretty bare bones" and he wasn't sure what else could be cut.

Buchanan County Supervisor Ellen Gaffney said the skyrocketing price of commodities, like steel and concrete, and recent problems statewide were mostly to blame.

"Nothing has been in our favor with the disasters and all of that," she said.

Officials were hopeful, though, after heavily revising the jail plans. Architects cut 2,000 square feet from the building, including an entire floor, and suggested several alternatives previously deemed necessary.

Now, more may have to be sacrificed, but Wolfgram said he isn't sure what could be left out.

"I'd have to see what they looked like as alternates," he said.

One sticking point is state law requires counties set a limit on how much they can spend when approved by referendum. The law doesn't apply to cities or school districts, said Jeffrey Heil of Ruan Securities, a financial firm working with Buchanan County. Officials are prohibited from covering the rest of the cost using county funds, Heil added.

Voters approved $4.5 million in bonds for the project Aug. 21, 2007. An additional $600,000 was added to the bond amount to cover increases in construction costs, but that amount apparently wasn't enough.

Supervisors aren't under a deadline to finish the project, though it was approved th rough a public referendum, Heil said.

Meanwhile, Wolfgram said he is under the gun to do something about his aging jail, which is in the third floor of the Buchanan County Courthouse. State jail inspectors previously pressured Wolfgram to address security and safety problems in the facility but have relaxed since the referendum passed. Last year, the inspector cut the jail's capacity from 22 down to 17 inmates after citing the county for several code violations.

"Right now, we're just being given extensions from the state jail inspector because we're going through this process," he said.

Contact Josh Nelson

at (319) 291-1565

or josh.nelson@wcfcourier.com.