KENILWORTH – Wellington North council had a notion prior to senior project manager Tammy Stevenson’s June 5 report that repaving some of the township’s roads was going to be pricier than anticipated this year.
The annual road repaving work, including eight projects, has been awarded to E.C. King Contracting (Miller Paving) for a pre-tax cost of $1.37 million.
That price is already over the $1.27 million approved in this year’s 2023 budget, and doesn’t begin to include other costs and taxes.
Yet the bid on the work from Markham-based E.C. King was 17 per cent lower than the costliest bid of $1.63 million from Steed and Evans Ltd.
The two companies and Cox Construction made bids on the work from April 5 to May 18.
Council’s concern about over-budget capital projects –heard during a May meeting when the over-budget reconstruction of a 200-metre stretch of Cork Street in Mount Forest was approved for nearly $1 million – proved to have merit as council approved yet another budget overage for township roadwork on June 5.
Work included in the township’s “asphalt program” this year is estimated to cost taxpayers $1.53 million, once taxes and rural pulverizing and additional gravel are considered.
“Additional budget has been requested, rounded to nearest half-thousand, within the recommendation to allow for the asphalt tender overage amount as well as rural pulverizing ($30,000) and additional gravel ($100,000),” Stevenson’s report states.
That puts the work over budget by $262,885, which council unanimously approved at its June 5 meeting.
Councillor Steve McCabe asked where the money was going to come from to pay for the overrun.
CAO Brooke Lambert didn’t have a ready answer to the councillor’s question, saying a future report would indicate budget sources.
“Didn’t we set a substantial sum aside in our budget for these types of scenarios, wasn’t it nearly $1 million [that] was set aside?” Mayor Andy Lennox asked.
“There is an anticipated contingency in our budget overall,” Lambert responded, without providing a dollar figure.
However, she said allocations of where specific overruns will be paid from has yet to be figured out.
Councillor Sherry Burke, who expressed concern last month about capital projects costing more than planned, asked Lambert if the township would “have to look elsewhere” for money.
“We’re anticipating that we should be able to cover those costs, but we want to see all the projects come back,” Lambert said, noting some capital projects had just recently been tendered.
The CAO told council in May that staff is indeed anticipating more budget overruns, and would return to council with a summertime report on the township’s capital projects.
“At that time, it will also be appropriate if we need to adjust our capital plan for the rest of the year — we still have lots of time to do that,” Lambert said.
