Clearwater County has put a new Rocky Mountain House terminal in a holding pattern after bids came in sky high.
The county and Town of Rocky Mountain House were proposing to split the cost of a new terminal building, which was expected to cost around $1.4 million.
When bids were opened the lowest was $1.87 million, which rises to $2.1 million when contingency and engineering costs are added. That would boost the county's share of costs from the $700,000 budgeted to just over $1 million.
Town of Rocky Mountain House staff have looked at ways to trim costs with the help of a grant but the project would still be about $540,000 over budget.
"Seeing this price come in is jarring, at least," said Reeve Michelle Swanson at Tuesday's council meeting.
"I think this deserves a re-look definitely at the ICC (Intermunicipal Collaboration Committee). We have an opportunity to step back and reevaluate."
The town and county have been looking at replacing the existing two-storey terminal built in 1978 with a modern one-storey building for a number of years.
County chief administrative officer Rick Emmons said county and Rocky Mountain House administrations had already been in contact to discuss the unexpectedly high price tag.
"We believe this is very expensive for the size of the building and what we're getting, and other avenues should be looked at," said Emmons. "We believe also there's better use for our tax dollars at this point."
Coun. Daryl Lougheed said the high bids were disappointing.
"I think that stalls the project," he said.
There may be ways to change the project to bring costs in line, he added. "I still think that ($1.4 million) budget is achievable with a lesser building."
Coun. Bryan Cermak also expressed his surprise at the bid results.
"It's just quite a shock that it came in that much higher. That's about double what we wanted to spend."
Council voted to send the terminal issued back to the ICC to discuss future steps.
