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Moonlight Drive bids come in higher than expected

By Mark Squibb/December 16, 2021

A water and sewer project is going to cost the Town of Paradise more than anticipated.

The tender for the Moonlight Drive Water and Sewer project closed on Monday, November 15 and the town received seven bids, which were discussed at the December 7 public meeting.

Bursey Excavating and Development Inc., was the lowest qualified bidder, coming in at just over a million dollars.

Despite being the lowest, the bid amount still exceeded the pre-tendered estimate, which was just over $815,000, by some 25 percent.

“Town staff discussed this issue with our engineering consultant, Progressive Engineering Consultants, and found that the increase was due to increased material cost,” explained councilor Larry Vaters of the Infrastructure and Engineering Committee, who was filling in for chair Deborah Quilty. “In conversations with contractors and suppliers, it is not anticipated to see these material costs decrease in the foreseeable future. The town currently has $559,033 of multi-year capital works funding allocated to this project and it was planned to cover the funding deficit of the original cost of the project through use of gas tax funds. The committee is recommending increasing the portion of gas tax funds to cover the new deficit.”

Vaters noted that in addition to water and sewer, residents will get upgrades to a road that was in extremely poor condition.

Council voted unanimously both to approve the tender and reallocate just over $200,000 in gas tax funding to over the deficit.

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