Weatherly Borough Council on Monday rejected bids for upgrades to Eurana Park after both came in just under $500,000 — more than twice as much as grant funding the borough has for the project.

“Our grant award is $232,820, not even close,” Borough Manager Harold Pudliner told council after the bids were opened and read.

Mayor/Council President Paul Hadzick asked if they could piecemeal the project, but Pudliner said no.

“The only thing we can do is reject these bids and knock the project down to some workable level,” Pudliner told him.

This is the second time the borough bid the project, which includes building basketball and pickleball courts, a courtyard and handicapped accessible pathways. The borough received no bids last month, although five firms requested specifications.

Pudliner asked about the borough’s options then, and was told that it could have acted as general contractors and subcontracted the work, if no firms bid a second time, he said.

But the borough can’t proceed that way with bids coming in so much higher than anticipated, he said.

“We have to look at what they bid and see where we can cut to make it work,” Pudliner said. “This is really ridiculous. There’s no way you can accept any of these bids.”

Councilman Michael Bellizia asked if the bids were itemized, and Pudliner said that they were and the borough can go through each category to see what can be cut to bring down the costs.

“It’s not difficult. We can do that,” Pudliner said.

Council members expressed concerns about getting the project done, as summer is fast approaching. The borough can work on trimming the project and rebidding for an opening for the end of May, if they act immediately, Pudliner said.

Council also discussed tabling the bids for review and a decision next month, but instead chose to reject them now.

Council then authorized Pudliner to review the project and see what the borough can accomplish with the funding it has from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for the improvements.

The rejected bids were from Kobalt Construction at $458,755 and Linde Corp. at $460,418.