Fixing Willowcale Road will cost the city a lot more than it expected.
A consulting service pre-sign budget was $1.8 million in 2014.
Last night, Council awarded the contract to the lowest bidder for $2.529 million. Adding in a 10% construction contingency, the project budget is now $2.78 million.
Councillor Terri McConachie says it was a tough decision, but the road needs repairs.
“You don’t ever want to pay more than what you budget for but all that means is we just didn’t budget enough. When you look at all the different quotes … they’re all significantly over what we budgeted for.”
The four other bids ranged from $2.758 and $3.641 million.
Willowcale was reduced to one lane in February because of serious erosion and a forming sinkhole. McConachie says urgency may have added to the cost, but Council did it’s best with the cards it was dealt.
“It needs to be done. Those are the quotes that came in and we still strove to get the best bang for our buck and that’s what we’re going to have to invest.”
City administration points to high demand as one reason for the issue. Tenders for larger projects across BC have recently closed, driving up the costs of material and labour.