It may be time to explore options to the major city hall reconstruction and renovation project being planned, Coun. Ted Laking suggested at Monday’s council meeting.

Laking explained the project budget has jumped from the original budget of $9.7 million for a renovation project in 2014 to $26.2 million for a much more extensive project.

“Every time there is a budget increase, it’s just a little more here, or a little more there, but eventually we are $16.5 million over our originally estimated cost,” he said.

“So I would be interested in what other options are available to us as a city that are more economical both in the short term and in the long term for our taxpayers.”

The discussion came up as council is being asked to approve an additional $1.5 million be added to the budget of $24.7 million, to bring the total to $26.2 million.

That’s a 170-per-cent increase in estimated costs in just seven years, he pointed out. Inflation over that same period was under 15 per cent.

The makeover of city hall is part of the city’s Building Consolidation Project that resulted in the new $50-plus-million Operations Building off Range Road and the new $3.8-million Fire Hall #1 on Black Street.

Laking suggested that perhaps there could be an addition to the Operations Building to accommodate additional staffing needs.

In addition to the rising budget, the city is behind in the project, as it was supposed to go to tender last August. Now, that won’t happen until early next year, he said.

The project envisioned by the city council of the day in 2014 was substantially different, with no plans for expanding city hall, no plans for a new transit hub and no renovations to public access to city hall.

But in May 2019, council approved a new design calling for additions to city hall.

The cost was estimated in September 2019 to be $18.9 million. Once the concept design was completed by a local architectural company, a new estimate – a Class D estimate – put the cost at $20.8 million.

With the final design completed, a new estimate of $24.55 million was provided last March. It was followed by a Class A estimate that put the cost at $3.9 million more, though staff and the architectural firm have made changes that reduced the additional $3.9 million to an additional $1.5 million.

The $1.5 million has been included in the city’s 2022 capital budget, says the administrative report to council.

Additional expenses include contingencies to deal with any impact from the pandemic and the escalating cost of material.

“Now I take the point that there are already some sunk costs in this project that we would not be able to recover if we were to drastically rethink our approach here,” Laking said.

“And this is the fact that previous councils have had to contend with as the project scope and size has incrementally grown over the last several years. I am sympathetic to that argument, but eventually we need to decide what is a greater risk for the city and the taxpayers and when to cut our losses.”

The city has secured $17 million in federal and territorial grant funding to assist with the project, leaving Whitehorse residents responsible for 32 per cent of the estimated project cost.

It was noted at council Monday night that if the city did not spend the $17 million in funding from the senior governments, it would lose it.

Coun. Dan Boyd told his colleagues they are not now talking about the same project that was originally envisioned seven years ago. Looking for alternatives at this point would be unwise, he said.

“It would be more expensive to look at abandoning this plan and go seeking alternatives,” he said. “It will cost more and the time loss would be significant as well.”

Peter O’Blenes, the city’s manager of property management, told council funding from the senior government must be spent before March 31, 2024.

Basically, he said, the city needs to complete the project by the end of 2023.

The project calls for the demolition of the front half of city hall, built in 1966, and of the old, adjacent fire hall.

The newer part stemming from the mid-1980s, the back half where city council chambers are located, will be left, and a new two-storey structure will be built and tied into the rear half of city hall.

The project requires the city to find temporary office space for the 50 or so employees who work at city hall, including Mayor Laura Cabott and her staff. Also being sought is a location for a temporary city council chambers.

The city hall project includes a new biomass – wood heating – system and a major energy efficiency upgrade.

Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu applauded the measures being taken to reduce the city’s carbon footprint.

Energy efficiency performance will be 70 per cent better than the National Energy Code for buildings, she noted.

Curteanu said city hall will become the city’s first net zero fossil fuel building.

“So if we are serious about fighting climate change, this is a good way to go about it,” she said.