The city still had $44.7 million worth of work left in its capital projects job jar by the end of last year, according to a report to the finance and audit committee on so-called "carry forwards" from 2023.
The total was spread over 52 projects and included multi-year projects and projects started in 2023 and remain uncompleted. In all, $64.7 million was budgeted for those projects and $20.1 million had been spent on them.
"The short answer is we don't have capacity to do all the work we plan to all the time, partly due to staffing shortages and partly due to labour shortages sometimes, " said the committee's acting chair, Coun. Trudy Klassen, in an interview following the committee's public meeting on Wednesday.
A further $4.16 million from another 15 projects was "relinquished," or put back into reserves for other projects.
Now five months into the year, several of those carry forwards have likely gone down noticeably.
For example, of the $260,350 worth of improvements budgeted for Studio 2880, just $69,834 had been spent by the end of 2023, leaving $190,515 to go.
But the work has since progressed significantly, according to the city's civic facilities and events director Andy Beesley.
"What I can tell you is we've finished the vast majority of the work. We've finished the roof, the fascia, the downspouts, the furnaces were replaced, and all that's remaining to tie off this project is we have some door replacements to do and a hot water tank and those will all be completed before the winter," Beesley said in an interview.
Stressing that it's only an estimate, Beesley said the remaining work will cost well under $50,000.
Conversely, the cost of replacing the rigging at Prince George Playhouse has gone up. On Monday, city council unanimously approved adding $85,000 to the budget for the project, raising the total to $356,500. The additional money will come out of reserves.
Bids on the project went well over the budget council had approved when it was taken out to tender in fall 2022 due to the post-pandemic market and trouble finding workers skilled in the theatrical rigging industry, council was told.
Coun. Cori Ramsay called the increase unfortunate but the "cost of doing business in a specific industry."
Beesley said the Community Arts Council will take over operating the Playhouse in September.
"We've got a new agreement with them, they have extremely ambitious plans and I think it's going to be quite exciting for everybody," Beesley said Monday.
He said the agreement comes in the form of a revenue-generating contract, "so the more it's used the more money the city is going to make."
At $8.3 million, upgrading the mechanical and the building enveloped at the Prince George Aquatic Centre posed the biggest number among the carry forwards.
In April, a further $6.3 million from the federal government was earmarked for the work now underway and pending the outcome of a 30-day counterpetition process scheduled to begin July 7, a further $22.15 million will be borrowed to continue the upgrades.
