Provincially funded PG daycare project budget rises by $2 million

The Malaspina Avenue Daycare project in Prince George raised it’s budget from $2,998,818 to $5,135,299.

This is a provincially funded project, and while many City Councillors during last night’s (Monday) meeting were happy to see an additional 83 childcare spaces on their way, many questions still came up about the cost increase.

“I’m glad this project is going forward, but my concerns are about how the original estimate was so wrong,” said Councillor Brian Skakun.

City Manager Walter Babicz said the additional funds were going towards a rise in construction costs, but also asked Senior Manager of Strategic Initiatives Chris Bone to elaborate on some of the other issues.

“We were required in a very short period of time to turn around project estimates. So you have to remember that we have no ability to ask a contractor, or pay a contractor to provide those estimates. That the estimates are developed in the absence of detailed design drawings.”

Bone added that initial estimates are the best guess that can be made at the time.

It was also noted that the application process to the province for this funding was done over two years ago, and BC has seen a rise in costs across the board.

“You know, it’s just a little tough for me as a Councillor to say ya, even though it’s not costing the local taxpayer, it’s still costing the taxpayer to chuck in a couple million dollars,” said Skakun.

“Now we’re getting down to business to actually build it, at a time when you have to take out a line of credit to build a fence. So if you don’t buy the panels that day, you’re going to have to sell a kid,” said Councillor Terri McConnachie.

Many other Councillors, and Mayor Lyn Hall himself wanted this to be seen as a good news story though, adding that there is a desperate need for daycare spaces in PG, and that the province was understanding of the budget hike.

“There were 600 plus seats, daycare spaces, that we were short of, 600! So if you take a look at the three projects that are going to be online by next year, we’ll be somewhere around 300, cutting that in half, and we’ve got one other project that’s in the works,” said Hall

“We’re making a big dent in this, and everybody around the table has said what a difference this will make to young families.”