Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 1, 1995 TAG: 9503010061
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The county Board of Supervisors on Monday accepted the $2.78 million low bid on the project from Breakell Inc. General Contractors of Roanoke. In doing so, the board rejected any major cutbacks in the plans.
The total project cost will be $3.26 million. That's $357,000, or 12 percent more than the $2.9 million in voter-approved general obligation bonds.
The county will cover the difference with $64,250 from Blacksburg and $293,700 from selling one or more county office buildings that will become surplus after the new headquarters is opened.
The move is a victory for Health Department and human and social services officials, who were faced with design cutbacks because of the cost increase between a November 1993 bond referendum and the construction bid opening in January.
Though the Board of Supervisors deliberately delayed the bond sale - which also will pay for library renovations in Blacksburg - to avoid a larger tax increase a year ago, that wasn't a factor in the 12 percent cost increase, county officials said.
Assistant County Administrator Jeff Lunsford checked national construction-cost data gathered by Virginia Tech and lumber price trends between 1993 and this year.
The main price-increase factor "is the resurgence in the demand for construction in the New River Valley" that's occurred since the summer of 1993, Lunsford said.
Therefore it isn't inflation alone that's accounted for the change. It's the demand for building projects versus the supply of building contractors, the county contends.
"The timing of the bonds wasn't really a factor," Lunsford said. "If we'd done the bonds in the spring [of 1994], it really wouldn't have made a difference."
The board considered a list of 10 possible reductions to save $104,800 on the project, but rejected them as short-term savings that could cost more in the long term. The new building will be located off Pepper Street in downtown Christiansburg.
by CNB