A significant spike in the cost of the preliminary planning phase for the City of Prince Rupert's plans for the old McCarthy GM facility on Portage Avenue will be among the items for review at tonight's City Council Session.
On the Agenda for tonight is a report from Chief Financial Officer Corrine Bomben who reports on a 290,000 dollar increase from the original estimate of the planning phase to transform the former car lot into the new home for Civic Operations.
Noting of the original budget which had an estimate of 75,000 dollars towards the design process, Ms Bomben observes how the two proposals received as part of a civic RFP were in excess of that original number.
"Two proposals were received, both with design costs in excess of the original estimate
included in the budget.
This is reasonable given the original budget did not contemplate
detailed design.
In order to proceed with the design phase of the delivery model, Council is asked to
approve the resolution to include the budget change as proposed in the table below so
it may be reflected in the upcoming amendment to the 2024 Five Year Financial Plan
set to be provided to Council late April.
All design costs are proposed to be funded
through a dividend from the City’s wholly owned corporation, Prince Rupert Legacy Inc,
and therefore will not impact property taxes."
The full report, which includes a budget revision chart to highlight the use of the Legacy Dividend can be reviewed below:
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| click to enlarge |
The plans for the use of the McCarthy facility for Civic Operations was mentioned
as part of Thursday's Town Hall forum, though details related to the differences from estimate to the new much higher cost for the design program were not highlighted as part of the short discussion in the forum.
A look at other topics of note for Council tonight is available from our
Council Preview.
Why is the Legacy Fund bailing out the fiasco the city has created over this building. It started with a total reno cost estimate of approx. $ 750,000.00. What is the estimate now. People down south are extremely upset on the cost overrun on the water treatment on the north shore hitting 400%. This is about the same and council shrugs!
ReplyDeleteUmm maybe it’s because there’s a big difference between $290,000 and $3 billion ……..
DeleteThe city keeps saying we are broke. For the city to complete this project and own the building we will be north of 10 million. As the city grows it will be to small for city requirements soon.
DeleteWhat is this absolutely ridiculous venture going to cost. Couldn’t the legacy fund monies be put to better use. There are so many things that could be improved in this city.
ReplyDeleteHolding the administration accountable might be a good place for council to start!
DeleteDefinitely , with a municipality our size there are too many 6 figure employees to begin with ( a study was done in the past ) with the population we have . They are not interested in doing business ( last town hall meeting ) only some lots are for sale ? They are stating to their residents that they have control over the business’s and how they are run . Why would anyone want to come here , with those ridiculous barriers all over the highway to keep people out ! On top of that the water we are paying for our toilets , give us our money back !!!
DeleteHolding the administration accountable to have safe working conditions for the staff at Public Works is where this all started! Thank you Legacy Inc!
ReplyDeleteThere were other options, they were not seriously explored. The initial cost estimates have been blown past by many hundreds of percent.
DeleteMr. Pucchi keeps digging us further down a taxpayer funded hole.
Note, The Legacy Fund is not free money it is taxpayer funds.
On one hand, you can only kick things down the road for so long.
ReplyDeleteYou are not going to attract and retain talent in leaky portables in an area known for landslides. It is a must have at this point.
On the other hand, show residents that you can deliver a project on time and on budget.
The city being in a financial state we are in should have never even considered this mess . The current city yard should have be upgraded for what ever was needed. Just another poor choice made and a raise probably given for it .
ReplyDelete