A budget overrun of $2.55 million for infrastructure projects accompanying the new Port Coquitlam community centre had councillors grilling city staff Tuesday. And the city manager admitted mistakes were made.
A report to council said other capital infrastructure improvements were planned to go alongside the construction project to take advantage of economies of scale and avoid digging up roads in the future.
The budget was originally estimated at $431,000 for sewer work for Mary Hill Road and Kelly Avenue. But the price tag has since ballooned to nearly $3 million. a difference of more than $2.55 million, and now includes upgrades to the storm and water systems and roadworks.
“The scope of this work was significantly underestimated, and did not include necessary water and storm upgrades,” said the report.
The city anticipated it would have to get rid of some below-ground water but didn’t realize how much. The cost for “dewatering’ the site turned out to be $1.1 million, putting it well over budget at a total of $1.6 million. The work has been completed and staff asked council to amend its financial plan to add $1.178 million.
In addition, the city encountered additional costs of $416,000 for storm sewers, $276,00 for water and an estimated $682,000 for roadwork. Staff said excess funds from other capital projects have been reallocated to cover those costs.
Coun. Glenn Pollock wondered how the city could miss the mark by so much.
“It’s a big gap. We must have known what was going on,” Pollock said during a committee of council meeting Tuesday.
PoCo's chief administrative officer, Kristen Dixon, said when the budget was first completed, it was a rough sketch of the work that would be needed and there was uncertainty about the timing of the projects, so staff couldn’t determine the full scope. She also said staff underestimated the size of the pipe necessary for the project and didn’t know what the groundwater was going to be like.
“We hadn’t scoped it as well as we have with other projects,” said Dixon, who took responsibility for the underestimation.
“I don’t find that answer to be entirely satisfactory,” said Mayor Brad West, pointing to the roadwork cost. “How was that unanticipated and not included? I understand when you dig down and find something, that’s something you don’t anticipate and you deal with that challenge when it comes to you. Explain to me how the roadworks aspects sneak up on us.”
Dixon said staff originally thought the work entailed relatively straightforward water and sanitary upgrades but, as they did a deep dive on the details, they realized they hadn’t taken into account the depths and the magnitude of the roadwork that would be required. She admitted the closer examination revealed storm sewer work needed to be done as well, saying, “That was an oversight on my part.”
Dixon didn’t disagree when Coun. Dean Washington asked, “So this is a $2.5-million mistake?”
Washington said the city has to make sure taxpayers are getting value for their money and when they read there was a $2.5-million variance on the budget estimates and it’s hard to explain why, there’s a problem.
The committee of council voted to consider the financial plan amendment request at a regular city council meeting.
Coun. Darrell Penner said council, which doesn’t meet again until Sept. 10, was given the heads-up a couple of months ago there might be a problem.
“Now it’s come to roost. I don’t like to say, 'Yeah let’s spend another million bucks,' but let’s go ahead and do it,” Penner said.
