Increased costs sink river bank stabilization project

The bank stabilization project will not move forward, Saratoga Mayor John Zeiger said.

The project, which was intended to clean the cement rip-rap on the river bank behind the town of Saratoga shop and pay for the river bank protection adjacent to the Veterans Island Bridge, was suspended due to increased costs of the project. The money provided to the town for that project has been returned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Zeiger said the initial costs of the stabilization project near the town of Saratoga shop totaled $184,004 — a number Zeiger said the town could have put forth for the project. The town would have contributed 25 percent of the funds for the project ($46,001) and FEMA would have paid for the other 75 percent of the project ($138,003). Additionally, the cost of the river bank protection adjacent to Veterans Island bridge was estimated around $240,000 with the town contributing around $60,000 towards the project and FEMA pitching in an estimated $180,000.

The project was bid by WLC Engineering out of Rawlins. The original number was presented to the town in 2012.

The town was notified in early October the rates had changed for the project. Zeiger said when it was rebid two years later, the cost of the project increased to $313,126.56 for the area behind the shop and $394,433.30 for the Veterans Island bank project.

The increased cost, Zeiger said, was attributed to new people heading the project.

“We were slated to receive the money once more paperwork was turned in,” Zeiger said. “But the problem was our cost was now going to really shoot up.”

The town would have been responsible for funding the additional $283,555.86 of the project. Because of the substantial increase, Zeiger said he did not bring it to the council.

“There was no way we had that in the budget, I wasn’t even going to bring it to the council,” Zeiger said. “I wasn’t going to waste anyone’s time on that.”

The town did not spend a substantial amount of money on the project, Zeiger said.

Zeiger said the town is not giving up on the project. There may be other funds available to them through and outside of FEMA the town can look into to fund this project.

“There is still a potential to get some FEMA money to do it, just not out of the one grant we had received,” Zeiger said.

The area behind the town shop and the bank adjacent to the Veterans Island bridge were considered areas of concern during the 2014 floods.