The Saratoga Airport Board recommended for council approval the apparent low bid of $746,906 at its Aug. 18 meeting. The low bidder, Mountain Construction Company is based out of Lovell, Wyo. The only other bid received by the deadline was from Cheyenne’s Simon Contractors Company. Simon bid the project at $869,000.
The actual project cost will be higher than Mountain Construction’s bid. “With the new bid amount and all of the other costs, which are basically our costs, our fees and the administrative, it comes to a total of $828,956,” Kim Lorenzen, airport manager said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant that has been secured for the project will not cover the additional costs. The grant can be amended by 15 percent, but, “If we amend the current grant by 15 percent it leaves us about $17,000 … short in covering all the costs,” Lorenzen said.
Lorenzen presented three options for covering the additional construction costs. The first is amending the current FAA grant and applying for a new FAA grant to cover the missing $17,000. The second is not amending the grant and applying for a larger FAA grant. This option allows for a larger 15 percent amendment if necessary in the future, according to Lorenzen. The third option is to apply for a state funded grant to bridge the additional costs. The town only needs to match 4 percent of the federal grants whereas it would have to match 10 percent of a state grant.
“As far as the town’s match goes, it’s a fairly small number no matter which direction we go,” Lorenzen said.
According to Lorenzen it is likely that Mountain Construction will crush the aggregate this fall at the Pass Creek Gravel pit and begin the paving project next spring. The contractual deadline to finish the project is June 15, 2016.
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