JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Office of Administration today announced the issuance of $97.2 million in bonds for the rebuilding of Fulton State Hospital. The $211 million project is currently underway, and today’s bond sale is the final funding piece for construction of the new campus, which will replace aging facilities with a state-of-the-art mental hospital that will be safer and more conducive to modern treatment. Construction began in 2015, and the project is currently on time and on budget, with completion expected in 2018.
The Missouri Development Finance Board today gave final authorization on the issuance of $97.2 million in bonds to allow for continued progress on the project. An initial bond issuance was approved in November of 2014 for the first portion of the $211 million construction project.
During Gov. Nixon’s administration, Missouri has paid down hundreds of millions of dollars in state debt. Including the bond sales for Fulton State Hospital, state government will still have lower levels of state-issued debt than when the Governor first took office.
“Today’s bond sale illustrates how Governor Nixon’s efforts to maintain our AAA credit rating pay off in the form of concrete benefits for local communities and Missouri taxpayers,” Office of Administration Commissioner Doug Nelson said. “Continual commitment to fiscal discipline has made it possible to replace this aging facility with a safer more modern mental hospital that will serve every community of the state. When complete, the new Fulton State Hospital will mean greater safety for employees and better care for patients.”
In 2014, the General Assembly backed Governor Nixon’s plan for replacing the state’s outdated and deteriorating maximum-security psychiatric facility at Fulton. Demolition, abatement and construction began in May of 2015 followed by a groundbreaking ceremony which was attended by current and former legislators, county and city officials, staff from the Department of Mental Health and the Office of Administration, as well as many Fulton community members. In June of 2016 significant construction progress was noted when the Energy Control Center and Services Building was the first on the new campus to be completed. The last building to be demolished will be the maximum security Biggs Forensic Center after the patients have moved into the new facility.
Fulton State Hospital, built in 1851, is the oldest state psychiatric hospital west of the Mississippi River. The Biggs and Guhleman Forensic Centers on the campus treat patients with serious mental illness who are committed by Missouri courts for evaluation and treatment related to a crime, or who have seriously assaulted patients or staff in other state psychiatric hospitals.
For the latest information on the Fulton State Mental Hospital construction, visit fultonrebuild.mo.gov.
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