New Sheriff’s Administration Building Opens

TYLER — The Smith County Commissioners Court and Sheriff J.B. Smith cut the ribbon Monday on the newly refurbished, historical downtown building that will serve as the new office headquarters for the Smith County Sheriff’s Office. “We are very excited to see this project come to completion,” County Judge Joel Baker said. The new office will be located at 227 N. Spring Ave. in the historic Roosth-Murphey building, next door to the Courthouse Annex on Ferguson that already houses numerous Smith county offices and departments.

Since 1986, the Sheriff’s Office has been housed in the Smith County Office Building at 106 E. Elm St. – formerly the Carlton Hotel. According to officials, since 1998, one of the county’s top priorities has been to move everyone out of the outdated Carlton and into more efficient facilities. “As a hotel, the Carlton building was designed to welcome people in – not keep them out. It was never designed to accommodate the specific needs of a sheriff’s office,” Sheriff J.B. Smith said. “This move is long overdue.”

The Sheriff’s Office is one of the facilities projects being paid for in cash through the county’s Pay As You Go (PAYGO) Program. The majority of the interior work was completed with inmate labor and with the County’s in-house facilities maintenance crew to save money. The county finished the building for around $1.2 million, making the cost per square foot about $85. “We are proud to have paid for this project in cash. We are providing this much needed building completely debt-free to Smith County taxpayers. This is one example of how we are continuing to spend tax dollars wisely without cutting our services,” Judge Baker said.