RIVERSIDE – The Riverside County Board of Supervisors chose to defer voting Tuesday on a $41.6 million budget for construction of a new sheriff's station and aviation facility in Thermal.

At the request of the county's Economic Development Agency, the board decided to put off voting until Oct. 21.

“We need to do a little more homework,” said EDA spokesman Tom Freeman, who declined to be more specific.

Riverside-based ASR Constructors Inc. has been selected to oversee the project, which will entail building a sheriff's patrol and aviation complex on the south side of Aviation Boulevard at Thermal's Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport, according to the EDA.

Freeman said construction is expected to last nearly two years, employing all local labor.

The ASR contract is roughly $32.2 million, with additional millions being set aside to cover engineering studies, permits and various contingencies, according to EDA documents.

Freeman said that, once completed, the new complex will serve as the sheriff's air patrol hub for eastern Riverside County.

Construction blueprints indicate the facility will occupy a 20-acre space, with the north 10 acres dedicated to a 77,000-square-foot sheriff's station and the remaining 10 acres going to the aviation facility, comprising a 12,000-square-foot hangar, office space and storage facilities.

A fuel depot will also be on site, as well as a future “Aviation Education Center,” according to EDA documents.