City explores avenues to address shortfall in restroom project funding
By Cameron Montemayor
City leaders and elected officials gathered Wednesday to review options for how to handle a large funding shortfall tied to several park restroom construction projects.
Council members called for the meeting after bids for construction of new restroom facilities at five locations — Corby Grove, Eagles Field, Hochman Park, Hyde Park and Northeast Park — came in over budget by $694,758.
At the time, the city anticipated they would see typical inflation-related cost increases. Officials set aside $310,531 to cover for just that, but construction costs rose even higher, leaving a $384,227 gap without a funding source.
“As we’ve been wrapping up this cycle, we recognized that inflation has greatly changed the price of construction over the course of the five or six years of the cycle,” City Manager Bryan Carter said.
Each restroom facility is a supplemental project included on the 2019 Capital Improvements Program list approved by voters back in 2018. With CIP projects scheduled over a five-year period, the five restroom projects are some of the last items left to complete from the previous cycle.
Council members discussed four options to address the funding shortfall:
- Implement project design changes to bring costs down
- Postpone one of the five restroom projects
- Bridge the gap with American Rescue Plan Act funds
- Bridge gap using combination of excess CIP funds
With construction of a costly new animal shelter looming — one that could easily fluctuate based on inflation — council members were hesitant to commit to plans that use ARPA or other CIP funds that may be needed down the line.
“I don’t think we need to spend any extra money until we figure out exactly what the cost of the animal shelter is going to be,” Councilman Madison Davis said.
Council members agreed the best course of action would be to postpone construction of one of the five facilities. The Northeast Park located by the YMCA up north was tentatively selected for postponement Wednesday.
In reaching their decision, council members opted to prioritize the other parks that have existing restrooms in greater need of replacement. Northeast Park currently does not have a public restroom facility.
Wednesday’s decision does not mean the project has been canceled.
“We can come back and reevaluate that restroom project once every other project is done and identify if the funds are available to construct it as it’s currently designed or constructed in a reduced form,” Carter said.
Moving ahead, Councilman Marty Novak wants to see some form of security for the new restroom facilities heavily considered in plans following growing concerns of vandalism and graffiti at other park facilities.
He pointed to vandalism that occurred at Bartlett Park’s restroom facility, which received renovations only a few years ago.
“If we’re going to spend all this money. I think we need to be prudent on how we can protect these assets that we’re building,” Novak said. “Because the 73,000 people who don’t cause any problems have to suffer.”
