New city hall bids all under $32-million budget

Companies bidding on the contract to build Windsor's new city hall have all come in under the estimated $32-million budget.

Two of the five bids came from Windsor companies, includingOscar Construction which had the lowest bid of $28.26 million.

• New city hall project still within budget

Legal reviews of the proposals will push the announcement of thefinal decision on the winning bid into next week, said Mayor Drew Dilkens, but he clarified that"if everything goes smoothly, Oscar Construction would be awarded that contract."

Though the city anticipated a $32-million price tag forthe building, there are additional costs for site work that will push the total spending to an estimated $43.6 million, according to the latest update from the steering committee overseeing the project.

Dilkenssaid the committee has worked diligently to keep costs down, so he welcomes the low bids.

"Any time you do construction of a big project, like a new city hall, you're talking tens of millions of dollars, so you want to bring the project in at or under budget," he said.

Any extra savings from construction could be reinvested in the project. Council had earlier considered spending more money to have energy-efficient features, but they shied away from those options because of extra costs.

Construction on the new city hall is expected to start later this year.