Construction of the new fire hall on Massey Drive is $2 million over budget, city council heard on Monday night.
City director of infrastructure and public works Adam Homes gave city council an update on the status of 13 major capital projects currently in progress in the city. Homes said the fire hall, which will replace Fire Hall No. 1 downtown, is expected to cost the city $17 million by the time construction is completed this fall.
"This is the one project we're expecting to be over budget," Homes said. "The building itself did get bigger. Some of the program spaces were too small."
The original design called for a 21,000 sq. foot building, but the final design will be 26,000 sq. feet, Homes said. The additional space was needed for things ranging from the fire dispatch centre to additional space in the mechanical room.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some supply-chain disruptions and some difficulties finding the needed tradespeople, Homes said. Those delays have added costs to the project.
When clearing the site, crews also found a layer of old construction debris – things like concrete and old tires – that had to be removed, adding further costs, Homes said.
Coun. Terri McConnachie said she understands the city couldn't have planned for the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, but questioned why the space issues and site clearing issues weren't discovered earlier.
"It's my job to press when we're already $2 million over," McConnachie said. "It seems that this has been risen before, with geotechnical testing not finding issues. What do we need to change with out geotech investigations? Are we expecting too little?"
Homes said the space needs for some of the programs have changed since the initial work was done in 2017, but there was also a lack of consultation with some user groups early in the process. As for the geotechnical report, the report focused on soil conditions, he said, the layer of debris wasn't the kind of thing a core sample will often detect.
Coun. Brian Skakun raised concerns about how the city will pay for the cost overrun.
In October 2017, Prince George voters approved the city borrowing $15 million to construct the new fire hall in a referendum. Voters were 82.79 per cent in favour of borrowing the money.
"If the building is going to be a little bit bigger to accommodate more people, that's fair," Skakun said. "(But) it's concerning we're telling people it's going to cost $15 million, and it's not. To me, it's not acceptable. I think council does have to have a firmer grip on some of these projects."
City manager Kathleen Soltis said the referendum authorizes the city to borrow up to $15 million for the project, and that's all the city will borrow for the project.
At the end of the year, some projects will have come in over budget and others under budget, she said, and those amounts will be balanced against each other. Two other capital projects Homes reported on, the replacement of culverts along Kelly Road North and Goose Country Road, were projected to come in approximately $400,000 and $500,000 under budget respectively.
In addition, the city has applied for grants that could reduce the $35 million price tag for the new pool downtown to replace the Four Seasons Leisure Pool, Soltis said.
Under the city's sustainable finance guidelines, the city manager can authorize cumulative budget amendments up to five per cent of the city's total operating budget for the year without needing city council's approval. Any cost overruns would be funded from the city's reserves.
"I expect most things will fall in my authority limit," Soltis said.
