The cost of renovating the South Berwick Town Hall will be about $300,000 more than anticipated, the Town Council learned last week.
Due to increased material costs, a delay in getting started and tariffs imposed this year, the $7.35 million project is now expected to cost that much more, according to Town Manager Tim Pellerin.
Town councilors agreed last week at their Oct. 28 meeting to set the ball rolling for a special town meeting in December, asking voters to allow the town to use undesignated funds to cover the increased cost.
Pellerin will work with lawyers to draft an article asking voters for permission to use as much as $750,000 from the undesignated account in case more than $300,000 is needed. He indicated, though, that would be a worst case scenario.
“If we run short, we can use the money; if we don’t need it, we won’t spend it,” Pellerin said.
If voters do not approve spending at least the $300,000 extra, the town will have to look at scaling back the renovation project, he said, suggesting that would simply kick the ball down the road to a decade from now.
If cuts have to be made, the town could eliminate landscaping, the new roof, or an elevator, Pellerin said, but then would be looking at making these improvements and changes later, when prices are even higher.
“That’s not a practical approach because we will end up redoing projects,” he said.
After getting final bids from subcontractors, Pellerin, council Chair Mallory Cook and Assistant Town Manager Jennifer Janelle have been meeting with representatives from Charters Brothers, the Danville, N.H., construction managers, and Oak Point, the Biddeford architecture firm, to look at at a variety of options for cutting costs, according to Pellerin.
They concluded the best option was to invest now in the changes that are needed, he said.
“We stretched our imaginations to come up with ways to modify the project and the reality is … the cost of doing business is just more a year or so later,” Cook said. Despite “how much all the parties involved tried and pushed ourselves” to find a better solution, she said, “we all came to the conclusion that today to complete the project in its entirety is going to be $300,000 more.”
As long ago as February, a month before the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, Pellerin warned the council the cost of the Town Hall renovation, predicted at $7.35 million, was likely to increase due to tariffs.
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Pellerin said he will work with town attorneys to draw up the new language before the next council meeting Nov. 10, which is scheduled for Monday because of the Veterans Day holiday Tuesday. The council can then specify the amount it would like to ask voters to approve and set a date for a special town meeting.
He warned that “time is of the essence” since the bids are good only until Jan. 1, and costs are likely to go up after that.
Cook stressed that the decision is ultimately up to the voters.
”We would be putting it to the people,” she said, “to decide what you want to do with this building.”
