LAC LA BICHE - Higher than expected costs for some recent capital projects can be attributed to inflation, under-budgeting, and late season tendering, says Lac La Biche mayor Paul Reutov.
The most recent budget-miss was seen last week when councillors were shown the latest numbers on the proposed aquatic centre project. In 2021, when Lac La Biche County council voted to move ahead with the 30,000 square foot swimming pool, it had a budget limit of $27 million. At that time, the federal and provincial governments had agreed to chip in $9 million and $6 million respectively while the municipal tax base made up the $12 million difference. Last week, however, project planners dropped a cannon-ball on those plans, telling council the real number had splashed up to about $46 million.
Following that meeting, Reutov told the Lac La Biche POST newsroom that councillors anticipated costs reaching as high as $35 million — but information found in municipal documents show that councillors actually agreed to a much higher limit at a Monday, April 24 meeting with designers of the new pool project. At that meeting, six council members, including the mayor, agreed to boost the bottom-line number to $39 million.
The meeting with the pool planners wasn’t on county-meeting calendars, and was only referenced briefly, and without description by council members, during a “councillor reports” section of their first meeting in May. All five councillors who attended the meeting claimed their $143 minimum meeting pay rate to attend the three-hour workshop, plus mileage. The mayor, who has a salaried position, claimed only $20 for a meal, $20 for “incidentals” as well as mileage.
In the three months since that meeting, council has not formally announced the increased budget number, with public-facing documents on the municipal website continuing to have the $27 million as the projected budget.
The April 24 meeting, and corresponding decision by council to explore a higher budget was noted in the most recent design materials supplied by the companies working on the project.
Just numbers, says mayor
After being asked about the increased budget numbers, the mayor said that’s all they are … numbers. He says that despite the meetings and budget increases being discussed, nothing is official.
“At this point in time, no official numbers have been confirmed,” he said. “We are still looking over designs and waiting to see what the final number will be.”
At their final public meeting before going into their summer meeting recess last Tuesday, councillors were shown that those final numbers could be at least $46 million. Councillors were shown the increased costs by David Addison of Ellisdon Construction, a member of the project’s design team, who was part of a delegation at the meeting.
Council will meet again at the end of August to discuss the presentation. Municipal administrators and designers are expected to present another set of plans at that time. When the mayor was asked how the budget numbers for the pool and other municipal projects could be so far off, he blamed an erratic global economy.
“The cost of construction has not only been steadily going up, but the trades and labour as well,” he said. “Everything has increased by as much as 20 percent over the past year, which has had a significant impact.”
Despite those challenges, the mayor remains confident the community—growth project will go ahead, with planned construction starting this September. The pool project has a completion date of October 2025.
Budget bungles
While council, administration and planners work through the increasing prices for the pool, they are also working through other massive budget misses.
The current Main Street Revitalization project was initially projected to cost $16 million, but over the two years of project discussions, that price tag ballooned to $31.5 million. When presented in 2021, the McArthur Park revitalization project came with a $4.5 million tag, but since has increased to $7.3 million. More recent projects have missed the mark with budgets as well. The planned pedestrian crossing near the entrance to the Beaver Lake hamlet, missed by more than 400 per cent, and a $2 million water and sewer utility replacement project is now looking more like $3.5 million.
At last Tuesday’s meeting, council voted to defer those projects until next year, describing them as the replacement of cast iron pipes on 101A Street and 104 Avenue and the 105 Street Water and Sewer extension project, and the installation of a pedestrian walkway and lights on Highway 881.
County officials first estimated the pedestrian crossing at $174, 568, a number that skyrocketed to $846,149.19, when the lone tender received for the project was opened last week.
Despite expecting higher prices due to inflation, the new price for the work needed surprised the mayor.
“Painting lines on a highway and putting up some lights should not cost almost a million dollars,” Reutov said. “We’re hoping a less expensive option comes along.”
He’s also holding out hope for lower prices on the deferred water pipe replacements.
While the deferral motion passed, Councillor Darlene Beniuk was not happy with the delay of the project.
“I am sick and tired of continually deferring projects,” she said. “We don’t defer residential taxes until the next year, so why are we delaying services people need right now? It’s ludicrous.”
The mayor says the high prices on the two deferred projects aren’t only based on rising costs, but also shortened timeframes. Tendering a project that you want finished by the end of the year in middle of summer is unfeasible, he explained.
“This is the worst time of the year to begin the tendering process,” he said. “Late tendering often delays work getting done.”
* With Files from Rob McKinley
