SASKATOON – A tender was awarded for a new over-budget art gallery and an estimated $5 million surplus was divvied up at Saskatoon city council on Monday night.
It’s going to cost 9.7 million more than originally anticipated, but the Remai Art Gallery of Saskatchewan will still move ahead.
Out of three tenders, city council approved the lowest bid submitted by EllisDon Construction.
The contract includes three separate projects, the $74.2 million gallery itself, a $19.5 million underground parkade along with an addition to Persephone Theatre.
The city says most of the additional costs can be blamed on the cost of concrete for the parkade, which had been underestimated by around $6.2 million.
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Going over-budget on the project means the price of the city’s loan must increase, with the amortization period extended from 15 years to 25.
The gallery’s board says it will do what it can to help cover unforeseen costs.
“There’s been a vocal minority that objected to the gallery right off the bat but we’re really not that far off and we’ve always known there’d need to be extra fundraising for the life of the building so we’re going to make up whatever gap in funding we have,” said Jason Abeig, chair for the gallery board.
Funding from the federal and provincial governments for the project ends in 2015 – meaning the project has to be finished by that time in order to receive the money.
On the other side of the red line is the city’s 2012 surplus.
Council decided to divvy up the extra $5 million between topping up reserve funds, putting $1 million towards expected expenses such as bridge repairs and $1.5 million toward roads.
Potholes were also discussed at the meeting. Mayor Don Atchison and administration are both anticipating this to be one of the worst years the city has ever had for potholes.
The city plans to send crews out as soon as possible along with hiring private contractors to help speed up the process.
At this time last year, warm weather had allowed crews to already begin tackling potholes with a temporary patching mixture.
The late blast of cold weather has delayed an early start to pothole repairs in 2013.
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