Higher than expected bids have Jim Thorpe Borough council faced with a decision on a proposed new public works garage.

The 26,000-square-foot garage with nine service bays, planned for property the borough owns across from the water department on West Broadway, came in just under $3 million, which is about $800,000 over budget, officials announced at a council workshop.

Sal Verrastro, of Spillman Farmer Architects, attributed the discrepancy to a low estimate on site work and inflation over the two-year period since the project was originally proposed.

“The site work was about a $300,000 difference from the budget and that is something we should have caught,” Verrastro told council. “But high bids are a trend we are seeing. We had four projects go to bid in the last month and a half and they have all come in over budget. Had this been a year ago, it may have been a different story.”

Council has to decide whether to accept or reject the low bid, made by Perrotto Builders, by Sept. 30.

“We were obviously very disappointed when the bids came back,” Council President Greg Strubinger said. “This is a project we have been looking forward to for a very long time.”

The new garage was pitched in tandem with renovations to Memorial Hall, located along East 10th Street. The work on the hall would allow the borough to move its administrative offices to a portion of the top floor of that building, while moving its police department to the bottom floor, which used to be a roller skating rink.

“We still have a very strong desire to do both projects,” Strubinger said. “I think we have no choice but to reject this bid. I think we may have a better chance, and a little more competition, if we bid both projects together.”

The borough also plans to meet with U.S. Department of Agriculture representatives to discuss the bid results and future options. The USDA gave the borough a $2,499,720 loan for the new public works garage and demolition of the current garage adjacent to Memorial Hall.

Councilman Mike Yeastedt suggested still using the funding to do part of the project, while buying time to secure other funding to cover the additional amount.

“USDA has told us we can scale down the project,” Borough Manager Maureen Sterner said, “but I don’t know if we can do part of the project and still use the whole loan they gave us because that amount was for the entire, complete project.”

Verrastro said there was nothing about the low bid for the garage that indicated it wasn’t legitimate. There were 14 bidders for the project, according to the PennBid website, with some eclipsing the $4 million mark.

“We really can’t figure it out,” he said. “It’s not an overly complicated project. There are not a whole lot of things we can see to pull out.”

Jim Thorpe Public Works Manager Vince Yaich backed up the statement, telling council his department, “didn’t ask for anything extravagant with the new building.”

Two years ago, Spillman Farmer gave the borough estimates of $650,000 to relocate the borough office to Memorial Hall, $1.5 million to relocate the police department to Memorial Hall, and $75,000 to renovate Memorial Hall. It plans on getting council the latest estimates for that work.

According to Verrastro, there may be more competition for that job because it is interior work.

“I think there has to be some savings if we bid them together,” Strubinger. “I would think the more volume, the better. Hopefully that would go in our favor and we can still pull this off.”